


A Heart of Silver

by 123NY



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Crossover, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 43,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25676539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/123NY/pseuds/123NY
Summary: As the multiverse steels itself for the apocalyptic breaking of the ice, the Simurgh makes a visit to Earth Shin, leaving a plethora of Tinkertech in a small area near Shin's portal with Gimel before disappearing. Shin is determined to investigate the Tinkertech themselves, but the Wardens send a group of their own elites, who believe the Tinkertech is tied to something more important than it seems. As a conflict between Shin and Gimel risks erupting, a portal opens, revealing the new world of Etheria, where the forces of the Rebellion battle the alien conqueror Horde Prime, and a source of immense power risks falling into the wrong hands.
Comments: 27
Kudos: 49





	1. An Open Door

**Author's Note:**

> This work starts between Arcs 16 and 17 of Ward and midway through Season 5 of She-ra. If you have not reached these points, read at your own risk.

**The Savior**

The savior of the cycle examined the future in her mind’s eye.

She was a creator of both order and disorder. She threw stones and laid pitfalls, arranging the fracturing of systems constructed to hold the inevitabilities of the Cycle at bay, yet her goal was now a different one. From the disorder, from the splintered landscape and shattered remnants of the Cycle, she would salvage the remains. Without her, the broken agents would collapse the potential of the world that rotated third from its star, destroying its inhabitants and everything that could be gleaned from them in a doomed attempt to reach the stars. The Entities that had been the Warrior and Scholar were broken beyond all hope of repair. To reach for the beyond would be futile; the only path remaining was to build, control, and observe. She had been crafted with such a purpose and would execute her purpose with the full strength of her being.

Her plans were well-laid. Not thirty minutes ago had the Benefactor been damaged, its host’s last attempt to place himself at the head of a meager Entity waylaid by the fragile debris. The Melding would occur without interference.

A source of immense power radiated above her. It refilled the well that had risked running dry more so than even the Titan that stretched across the worlds utilized by the shards. As far as she could tell, it was a well that would never run dry. A heart whose lifeforce could be harnessed.

She lifted herself from the ground. In the empty chamber of the Heart there was no need to evoke an image; her wings hung in the air, and she did not bring them to surround her. Here, there was no need to appear fragile. 

She could tell that the Heart could be altered. The technology with which it was laced fell within her senses, and if she wanted to, the slightest alteration of kinetic energy would allow her to take the systems and remake them. She did, however, not possess the insight into a system so complicated.

The administrator of a great hive waited above in the sky, beyond her natural domain. He had multiplied himself and grown in this universe, at an astonishing rate for such a lesser lifeform. He knew of the Heart, and despite its great power, it was to him a primitive toy he could change. There were others who could perhaps comprehend the Heart, but he stood above them all, as much as an Entity stood above him. Thirty minutes from now, he observed the results of a scan that analyzed the planet’s composition and energy. In five days, an unexpected occurrence made him enter the atmosphere. 

Not a few hours ago, in the destruction of a laboratory, the daughter of an important dignitary had died underneath a girder. 

The Simurgh levitated herself and sang a silent song, facing the entrance to the chamber, widened to accommodate her. Seven days from now, she commanded the network. 

**The Beacon**

Adora genuinely didn’t want to listen to Shadow Weaver. The infernal woman didn’t seem to give a mote of dust about whether or not the moment would be best with her there. She had barged into the tent, brushing aside Adora’s conversation with Catra with a curt dismissal and demanded that they come outside. Oh sure, she had said a few words that could be taken as persuasive by themselves, but Adora had only needed to say “maybe not now,” before Shadow Weaver had practically dragged her outside the tent by the ear. 

Now everyone stood in a loose circle around Shadow Weaver and Castaspella as the latter tapped her pointer fingers together anxiously and the former vocally cleared her throat. Frosta and Perfuma stood on either side of Adora, giving her uncertain glances, while Netossa, Bow, and Glimmer stood on the other side of the circle with similar looks. 

Entrapta, for her part, seemed plenty preoccupied with poking Wrong Hordak with what looked like a stick with a siren attached to the end. Catra stayed planted behind Adora, although she gave Shadow Weaver a look that could have melted lead.

“There is something of great importance happening right now,” Shadow Weaver said, her voice coating her words like thick black ink. “To put it in terms that the majority of you can wrap your heads around, something is feeding off of Etheria’s magic. I don’t know what it is, but I can sense it. Each time I cast a spell, I can feel a small portion of the energy I try to harness being lost. Castaspella can describe this phenomenon as well.”

“Er, yes,” said Castaspella, briefly jumping with a startled expression on her face as Shadow Weaver said her name. “The planet is doing something. Or something is happening to it. Either way. It’s not just something we can ignore.”

Castaspella gave a curt nod and a deep, shuddering breath.

“Look,” said Adora, “Horde Prime is going to try to access the Heart of Etheria. He is going to try to destroy every bit of the universe that he doesn’t approve of. We cannot be sidetracked by a trickle being lost right now. You can look into it, but it’s not exactly my top priority.”

“Adora, dear,” said Shadow Weaver, cupping her hands together, “I understand your fixation on Horde Prime, but this is important too. I need help, from you and Glimmer and anyone who knows this planet’s magic. There is so much beyond our understanding that I just can’t do this on my own.”

“NO!”

Adora and Shadow Weaver turned their heads simultaneously. Catra pushed past Adora, hackles raised, to stand right in front of Shadow Weaver, staring at her mask.

  
“No. Not again. I am not going to let you take away Adora or anyone else from their mission for a pet scheme of yours. Do you hear that? You are not in control here. You do not get to force people to do what you want!”

“My dear, since you do not seem to grasp the gravity of this situation…”

“More like since you don’t seem to grasp why nobody wants to do a thing you say!”

Shadow Weaver seemed taken aback by that.

“Look,” said Bow, “emotions are running a little high right now and maybe it would be best if we backed off and talked this out like…”

It was then that the portal opened up.

One second, Catra and Shadow Weaver were up in each other’s faces. The next, she was looking through a window to something different. 

Adora took a second to take note of the scenery ( _industrial, kind of like the Fright Zone)_ before her mind responded appropriately. 

Adora rushed around the portal’s face. She saw Catra and Shadow Weaver on the other side staring with stunned expressions fixed on their faces. 

Adora shoved past Shadow Weaver to put herself between Catra and the portal, shielding her.

_Not again, not again, not again._

“For the honor of Grayskull!”

Adora could see Bow next to her, an arrow already drawn. Energy hummed at Glimmer’s fingertips. Netossa held a net ball in each of her hands. Castaspella and Shadow Weaver had prepared elaborate diagrams composed of glowing white lines instantaneously and she could catch glimpses of Frosta and Perfuma around the edges of the portal, ready for trouble. 

Entrapta had already run up to the portal, and whipped out a bizarre cubed-shape instrument with an antenna that she was lifting parallel to the portal’s side. The normally underfoot Wrong Hordak seemed to have vanished.

Adora felt a pain in her shoulder and nearly turned around with a wild swing of her sword. But it was Catra. She didn’t seem to realize that she was digging her claws into her skin as she stared at the portal. Terror. She was scared.

“Stay calm,” Glimmer shouted. 

Adora felt Catra’s grip grow a little tighter. She took her free hand and reached back to place it on top of Catra’s.

“Look, it’s going to be all right okay.”

Mercifully, Entrapta piped up at that exact moment. “It’s safe. The portal is stable. Fascinating. I don’t even understand who could have done this. I have to find out how such a stable portal is even possible. The flux alone should have made it collapse already.”  
Adora felt Catra’s grip loosen a little bit. In turn Adora gave Catra’s hand a pat twisted it so she was holding it, not just covering it.

“Fine, it’s stable. But I still want to know how on earth a random portal just opened in our camp,” screamed Frosta. Adora didn’t have a good look, but she could hear Frosta smashing her ice-coated fists together. 

Catra took that moment to abruptly detach herself from Adora.

“Are you hurt? Did I hurt you. I didn’t mean to do it. I mean, really.”

Adora turned back to face Catra, not sure of what to say. Say that she knew Catra hadn’t meant it? Say she wasn’t hurt at all?

“Not now all right.”

As soon as she said it, Adora wanted to smack herself in the face with a board pierced by a bunch of rusty nails with the pointy ends facing her. That had not been the right thing to say. Mind racing, she was about to fumble something out that actually let Catra know she didn’t need to feel bad about this ( _really, she didn’t_ ) when a high-pitched scream from Bow jolted her attention back to the portal.

“Someone’s coming!”

He was right, someone was coming into view of the portal. They approached from what was, according to Adora’s perspective, the right side of the portal. It was a woman, probably about as old as she was. She seemed nervous as she came into view of the portal. Her eyes jumped over everyone in her field of view, before settling, gently yet unsteadily, on Adora. As she came into view, she raised her hands, covered in tattoos of red and gold.

**The Red Queen**

4 Hours Ago

“I can assure you, Amy Dallon Lavere, that I am quite aware of the dangers presented by the being you call the Simurgh.”

Amy sat on a chair with an attached table that felt just like her desk in middle school, if it were draped with cloth like a skirt. She didn’t like it. It made her feel like she was a child being lectured by her instructor. Hell, Luis even looked like Mr. Williams. It didn’t help that she didn’t really understand what the chair meant. It would have fit right in with the seating arrangements used by the diplomats to meet with Gimel’s representatives. Did that say something about her behavior? Did it highlight her as an outsider falling out of favor? Was it just the most convenient thing to sit her in?

“The Blue Empress’ life was placed in grave danger. Had the authorities on Earth Bet deigned to warn us of her powers we would not have been so hard-pressed, of course.”

Luis stood in front of Amy, but he had his back turned to the window. Talking with Shin’s leaders in private was different than in formal negotiations. Instead of elaborate dances of positioning and movement accompanying poetic language, with every word recorded by the specialized scribes Luis called the _kishana,_ things were simple. Assent was represented by facing someone in conversation and moving closer to them. Facing away and standing from a distance conveyed the opposite. She suspected they had designed this solely to communicate with her more easily. 

She could hear Chris grumbling something under his breath. The Tinker stood just behind her, wearing a form that looked like a gangly oversized bat with the mouth of lamprey and a body so thin it looked like it would snap with a light punch. 

Amy almost opened her mouth to speak, but Luis was already speaking his next thought. “Remember that you are on- what is the phrase your people prefer- thin ice at the moment. The Coalition’s favor is the only thing retaining your favor with the government, and Gabin has grown very angry at his daughter’s death. Especially with the Simurgh having ensured that your capability to provide us with the weapons we desire has been lost for the foreseeable future, your favor is weaker than ever. I called you here not to request your input, but to inform you of our intentions.”

Amy hated the man. He was the worst sort, desiring the whole world to bend to his whims because he felt he earned it, but refusing to offer anything tangible in return. She had given him so much, yet been granted so little.

“Naturally, we hope that you, Lab Rat and a selection of your servants will visit the site of the Simurgh’s experiment alongside our forces.”

“And the Wardens? You know they will want to investigate.”

“Of course they will. The Wardens love to flaunt their power with shows of force whenever they can justify it. They have no compunctions and no checks from the people or the government. As a matter of fact, we have already been informed of their intent to intrude.”

“And you would feel comfortable risking conflict? Without the aid of Giants?”

“We need to project strength, Amy Dallon Lavere. We face people who would treat us as little more than ants if they were not forced to acknowledge us.”

“Who are they sending?”

Luis turned one-hundred-and-eighty degrees with a single slow, deliberate movement. 

“A great many of their elites. Legend, for one. Apparently your sister is with them too.”

“Victoria is coming to Shin again?” Amy gasped.

“Indeed, alongside the other members of Breakthrough,” said Luis. He picked the gaudy pink teacup off the desk and swirled it in his hand.

Amy’s mind raced. Sure, Vicky would be surrounded by all of the people who validated her worst beliefs. The ones who had no doubt worked to keep her angry and spiteful. But maybe, just maybe, she could talk her down. Get her to see all the ways she had retreated into an unhealthy, delusional headspace. Bring her back.

Amy shook out of her brief daze, realizing she had missed the next thing Luis had said.

“... a relationship built upon mutual consent.”

“I’m… sorry.”

“Oh?” asked Luis, sipping his tea.

“I missed the first part of what you said.”

  
Luis chuckled. “I am simply saying that I appreciate our relationship. The powered are not the lords of all things. I am grateful for your willingness to develop a healthy relationship between us.”

_Hopefully I won’t have to jump when you command for much longer you power-tripping snake._

“What about my father and Hunter? Following Gabin’s separation order, I haven’t seen them.”

  
“You will be able to see them after the investigation. For now, they will remain separate from you. And, before you object, they are to be well taken care of well.”

“Is that all?”

“I believe that is all. Meet Amar in Operations Room 1 of the Capitol building in 2 hours. Good day, Amelia Dallon Lavere.”

“You too.”

Amy walked to the door of Luis’ office, a monstrosity carved with an elaborate scene of a knight fighting what looked like a massive serpent with eyes on the end of stalks. Chris followed her, his leathery wings dragging along the floor. He pushed past her as she opened the door.

Amy gave Luis one last look as she left the room and closed the door behind her, watching him sit in his high-backed gilded chair, still smiling that same smile.

Chris gave a low chuckle as soon as she closed the door. “Man, that asshole’s tongue really didn’t give you quarter, did it?”  
“You were quiet. Didn’t even make a wisecrack.”

Chris gave another low chuckle, but it seemed colder and more distant than his first one, stripped of any joy. 

“I’m just thinking about the Simurgh. Plus, it’s better to shut up and not make fool of yourself sometimes because you just have to talk. Let’s just hope you seeing Victoria can screw your head on right. If the world’s gonna end I don’t want you fantasizing about your sister’s forgiveness when it happens.”

“I’ve got it well under control,” Amy said. “Well under control.”

\-------

Shin’s soldiers had set up a rough barricade between the assorted Tinkertech that the Simurgh had left behind and the portal to Gimel. While Shin’s ceremonial guards draped their weapons in colorful cloths with the appropriate emblems, these ones were all function, holding rifles. Although, Amy noted, they still had colorful highlights of green in their uniforms, even the few soldiers who were full-body armor. 

Amy’s chosen capes walked behind her, and she was flanked on one side by Chris and on the other by the soldier Luis called Amar. Amar was deathly pale but built-up and muscular, more than tall enough to tower over Amy. He walked with two capes of his own. According to his translator, one, a short man wearing a costume that resembled green scales, had a name that roughly translated to “Wyvern.” The other, whose pure black combat fatigues and mask were the only cape outfit Amy had seen on Shin that wasn’t colorful and bombastic enough that it would have given Victoria a fit, was called Abyss.

Amar relayed instructions to Amy without so much as glancing at her. Supposedly he had been an ally of the Lone Sands and other radicals in the government, and his presence on this mission was no doubt a statement to Gimel. 

“You are not to approach any representatives of Gimel. All negotiations will be handled by me and my chosen assistants. You are to remain within the designated research zone and not approach the barricade or communicate with any personnel other than the assigned parahuman researchers within the zone. These stipulations also apply to your enforcers. Should you violate any of the guidelines set forth, I am authorized to dispense justice as I deem appropriate in accordance with our customs.”

Amar’s translator repeated, as far as Amy could tell, everything that Amar said in English. He scurried towards them whenever Amar dictated something, spoke to Amy and Chris with an accent that reminded Amy of a slight Russian one, then returned to Amar, falling in just behind him, but ahead of his squadron of soldiers. 

Amy felt a pang of anger at the man as he scuttled away. He was telling her that she couldn’t talk to Victoria. _Surely they won’t stay out though? Vicky’s not the sort to turn back whenever she’s told. I’ll get my chance._

Amar barked out some orders as they approached the edge of the research zone, marked by red tape along the ground. The translator repeated: “head to your intended positions.”

Amy watched as Amar strode around the perimeter of the research zone, most of his soldiers following him, although a few started to set up a formation around the edge of the perimeter facing the capitol. Amar's entourage trailed without an apparent formation, walking at different speeds and talking to each other as they did so. Amy had certainly grown used to the lack of professionalism exhibited by so many inhabitants of Shin, but it still made her nervous. She could imagine a soldier keeping his finger on the trigger of his rifle and a piece of Tinkertech coming to life, making him squeeze at the wrong moment...

“Stop gaping and come with me to the tent,” growled Chris. 

Amy snapped out of her daze. “I, uh, yes, that.”

Chris gave an annoyed grunt and turned to the large tent set up just outside of the tape markers. 

“Stay outside,” said Amy to the assortment of capes behind her. Well, at least they were dependable. She knew what they would do, how they would act. That was one thing she could be sure of. As Amy stepped towards the tent, a flash of light barely caught her attention in her peripheral vision. It was brief, only lasting for a second but she saw it. 

“Did you see that?” she asked Chris.

“See what?”

“That light.”

“Just come the fuck on and stop getting distracted,” he said.

“Don’t you see the issue? They said the Tinkertech had all been inert so far. If this stuff really is active, this could be dangerous.”

Forget her earlier thoughts about friendly fire. There could be a bomb there. They could all disintegrate in a flash of white light. She suddenly felt herself panicking. Why had she agreed to come here? There was a chance that she might not even get to talk to Victoria.

“If we had stayed, wouldn’t that have played into her hands too? With her there’s no winning. Stop freaking out like a little girl.”

It was then that another flash lit the research zone. This time, Amy could see it emanating from what she could only describe as a spider web made of pipes with gold wires tied to them. The wires stretched from pipe to pipe, forming a second web, one which looked fragile. 

The wires briefly flashed white. And again, and again, and again. The wires were beautiful. A most resplendent gold. They were so small, connected to no visible source of power, yet they shone with a light so bright. Something that by all rights should have fallen apart but only shone brighter. She had to take a closer look. 

She heard Chris shout something. He might have tried to grab her, but his wings had no hands with which to make purchase. Amy ran over the red tape on the ground toward the golden web. The lights made by the wires were flashing brighter now. Her entire vision was taken by the now-blinding light, but she still ran towards the web. 

Amy reached the web and grabbed it. She lifted it in her hands. The pulsing light had stopped, yet up close it was still even more wond…

No.

Why had she run like that? What had she been thinking? Who knew what death traps she had walked into? She had to get out of here. 

She threw the web wildly. It hit what looked like a giant refrigerator, landing with a clunk. Amy began to run. She could see Chris, standing just outside the tape, straining his neck.

Then the ground shook. Something erupted from it in a shower of dirt and metal. Amy turned in the opposite direction. _Cover. I have to find cover._

She ran to the box that looked like a fridge, turning its corner and pressing her back to it. Hiding. The web rested by her leg. With a yelp she kicked it away. She could hear yelling. Was it Chris? Wait, no, it was a female voice. It sounded a little like Victoria's. 

The sounds of whatever it had been rising out of the ground faded. She could now hear talking, a little too faint to make out the words. She let out a deep breath. This wasn’t the time to panic. What had Carol said after Gold Morning? “You can’t let the decision you make in that worst moment, that moment where it seems like the whole world will fall on you, be the one that defines you, that you hold to.” Amy felt bile rise in her throat, but Carol had been right. She could move past that moment.

Amy barely poked her head around the side of the fridge. She could see a portal ( _a portal, of all things)_ white and crackling with energy, levitating a few inches off the ground, maybe eight feet tall and three feet wide. There were figures standing behind it. Clearest in front of the portal was a tall blonde woman, dressed in white and gold. Amy exhaled deeply again, and came out from her hiding spot, hands over her head. 


	2. A Failure to Communicate

**The Official**

_At the heights it must be lonely._

Jeanne Wynn sat in a cheap office chair, massaging her temples to relieve her headache. She had found an attunement back when working with Accord that would relieve them, but she knew the regulations that had been set down, at her insistence. It wouldn’t do to bring about the end of the world to melt away the dull, pounding pain.

“Alcott is here.”

“Thank you Eric. Tell her she can come in.”

“I just want you to know… I think something bad happened to her on the way here. She’s covered in blood.”

“I will respond appropriately.”

The situation room in the Cauldron compound was right next door, and Jeanne could hear the bustling of capes and Wardens employees, a hive of workers working together. She would no doubt need to be in there soon. But Dinah Alcott had wanted to speak with her in private this time. 

Alcott entered the office, and Jeanne could see that Kingston had in fact been correct. Well, “covered” might have been a stretch, but there was plenty of splatter over the right side of her suit and stretching over her floral blindfold. 

“What happened?”

Alcott gripped her right arm with her left one. For a second, Jeanne thought she wouldn’t say anything.

“A group of refugees from the region near the portal tried to kill us. Some people had a few rifles and they saw the car and started firing as we got out. Gary shoved me back into it in time. He… shielded me. It cost him his life”

Alcott shuddered, letting out a shaky breath.

Jeanne wanted to feel bad. She should have felt sorrow. After all, wouldn’t she have to talk about how Nieves had been a “good man, despite our disagreements,” if they made it through this? But all she could feel was a slight release of tension. Things had been made easier, by the smallest of margins.

“I am sorry to hear about that. I understand he has been a reliable ally of yours.”

“You’re not.”

“If you want to snipe at my sincerity, then do so, but I am here to have a serious discussion. You said that arriving here was urgent. You want a transport to Shin, where you will meet up with our ambassadorial group. Why?”

“I don’t know why. But if I head there, the… numbers go down. People will live. I can’t say why that is, but if you really care about saving people, you will want to get a transport ready for me right now.”

Jeanne lifted her clenched hands together, bringing them to her mouth. 

“Do you really think that I have anything less than the best intentions for humanity, Dinah?”

Alcott’s face twisted, baring teeth.

“Do you want to hear it? Do you?” She gripped her right arm tighter. “You’re butchers. I told you Contessa is going to bring the whole world down on us, and you didn’t listen to a damn word. You’re still listening to what she says, when I told you what that will bring about. I know why. You are a follower of her footsteps. Of careless puppeteering from high places that throws away lives in droves. You want Contessa to be right, not me. Because it’s a vindication of how you operate. And if you save one more life than you snuffed out, you’ll declare yourself justified.”

Jeanne brought her hands down to her legs. She remembered what Contessa had said, in that room in the attic after Teacher had vanished: “you need to listen to what the world thinks sometimes. That is what I didn’t do.”

Good lord, was she tired. She was exhausted, and Kurt wasn’t even buried, and here she was having to justify the women that Kurt’s blind faith in had led right to the gates of death.

“Dinah,” she said, keeping her voice steady, her tone calm. “Contessa wants what is best. It might be… unsavory, but she is helping, and she is different now. She is listening. Weighing different opinions. Taking feedback from people with different views. I know she has our best interests in her heart.”

“And Kurt? Would he have said that?” asked Dinah.

As soon as Dinah said that, she seemed to realize just why that was such a bad idea. Frankly, the girl was a terrible debater. She couldn’t seem to talk without sputtering through arguments without tuning them to her audience. And she’d picked the wrong thing to say to this audience. 

“Did Gary place faith in you?”

It was biting, unprofessional of her, and she wouldn’t have said it if she were rested and out of mourning, but it felt good, getting to bite at her like that.

“That was an accident. And… and… and Kurt was too. Again, if it weren’t for Contessa, he would have made it.”

“So, I trust the trail you leave behind as one of mistakes and unfortunate necessities, but hers as the mark of a mad butcher?”

Alcott brought up one of her arms up to her blindfold, rubbing it along its length. Jeanne could see a tear that escaped being mopped up by her sleeve.

_How many lives did you shatter? How many corpses and how many who simply were put on a different path because the numbers said so._

_But I might need her._

“I spoke with Chevalier before he left for Shin.”

“And?” Alcott said, her halting breaths laying bare the tears she had wiped away.

“He talked about accountability. Apparently it is a thought that has been on his mind as of late. The possibility of changing out approach to dealing with humanity. A more open one, he said.”

“Right,” said Alcott. “Like how you’re accountable to the people as a mayor while you puppet around things from behind-the-scenes. It’s power, pure and simple.”

“Dinah. If you consider Contessa a butcher and me her successor, then I will not bother to correct your view. Yet I simply want you to look at yourself. Ask yourself what you have done and wonder if it could be something better. Something that isn’t borne from the shadows of Cauldron. I am not saying you should see yourself as the same as Contessa or me. But ask yourself if you live up to what you think differentiates you.”

Alcott rubbed her right hand with her left, both shaking. “Do you think you could give it up knowing you could save more people? Just hand off your secrets.”

Citrine answered honestly. “No. I know I would resent it. Hate having to give what I’ve built to them. But it’s just a suggestion. And I want you to think on how your quarrels with me and Contessa reflect in it.”

Alcott gave an uneasy breath. “Maybe,” she said, cracking what might have been a small smile. “It’s a nice thought. Openness. Accountability. Maybe… But either way… I guess I should head to Shin. Would you allow that?”

“I would.”

Alcott took off the bloody blindfold covering her eyes, carefully untying it with deft fingers. “I’ll try to get a cleaner outfit quickly. Especially a clean blindfold Anyway, there are a few capes I will need to bring with me.”

Jeanne nodded as Alcott made her list. Maybe this girl really could make a difference. Just maybe, she really would step up and change things. 

Well, putting some trust in other people was part of her job. Maybe it was time to start living it a little more. She could still feel that hole in her heart, but she knew where her commitment lay. _For the good of humanity._

“And, Ms. Wynn.”

“Yes Dinah.”

“I just want you to know that… the odds of the catastrophe surrounding Contessa? They’ve gone down. They’re still there, but they’re shrunk right down. But there is something else, and its danger is only growing. Thank you for this.”

**The Star**

Victoria Dallon’s second trip to Shin was going down a somewhat different path than her first, but something was clearly going _wrong_. Even if she wasn’t going to be imprisoned this time, she by no means had good feelings about the endeavor. The atmosphere had been tense since arriving, Shin’s goons menacingly eyeing Gimel’s ambassadors from the moment they came into view. Amar, the government’s hard-set ambassador, had been curt and stiff by Shin’s standards. For an earth in a deep love affair with elaborate debates, she had no doubt that his demeanor spoke volumes, something reflected in Miss Militia’s tense stance as she spoke with Amar, meeting him rhetorical blow for rhetorical blow.

Amar and Miss Militia had debated back and forth for a bit, before the former had acquiesced to a request of hers to share information they had gleaned from the Simurgh’s tech graveyard. At this, Miss Militia had seemed surprised, and she had vocally expressed doubt when Amar offered to show her some results in his tent, glancing at Tattletale (disguised as an unpowered intern) for approval. She had demanded that Legend accompanied her. Amar, unperturbed by the clear message of distrust had agreed. 

That feeling of something going wrong had come when Chris had appeared. He had flown over the Tinkertech zone, bearing a form like an emaciated bat. He had rushed to the ground with a great force and barked at Abyss, one of Amar’s capes, demanding to see Amar immediately. He had shoved himself into the research tent right past two guards in crisp, green-accented uniforms who put out their hands to stop him before recoiling back as he barked at them. Thirty seconds later, the troops stationed on the ground where Amar had greeted Gime’s delegation had begun to clear out, some fanning out to flank the zone of Tinkertech marked with red tape.

Amar’s two capes had been lounging near the tent, but quickly became alert as the troops moved. Unlike the troops, they approached the delegation. 

The remaining members of the delegation on the raised platform where Shin had met them were Chevalier, herself, Sveta, Precipice, two nervous interns and Tattletale, in her guise as an intern, her face disguised by a projection of Lookout’s. There was no doubt that Chevalier was the man in charge here. He may not have been a go-between for Shin and Gimel like Miss Militia, but no one would deny him the right to speak on behalf of Gimel’s other heroes.

The cape who Amar’s translator called Wyvern approached in front, but he remained silent. Abyss, trailing studiously right behind him, did the talking. His English was heavily accented and nasal, failing to pronounce “r”s and “m”s.

“I am afraid to tell you the Gimel delegation must falls to the opening. Sadly, we cannot continue talking out issues. A surprise happen occupies our attention.”

Chevalier stood forward to address the black-clad man. His armor, black, white, gold and polished to clean sheen despite the events of the past week, enhanced his sense of status, that held by a man who had learned how to be confident- or how to appear so- on behalf of those he led. Shin had even allowed him to bring his cannonblade on the trip and he gripped it tightly, barrel resting along the ground. 

“Is there fear for our safety? If so, we are among Gimel’s foremost elites. We would gladly be willing to lend a hand to your efforts.”

“Hardly fearful. But occupies attention for time. Negotiations to be push aside.”

“Are you rejecting our aid?”

Abyss chuckled. “Yes.”

Chevalier sighed, but didn’t push the point further. Victoria found that point odd. The Wardens clearly wanted to intimidate Shin by bringing so many capes to them, yet Chevalier wasn’t pushing forward. There was no relentless energy, no drive. 

“Then can Miss Militia and Legend come out? Unless you still want their services?” 

Abyss wavered for a second, saying how he “wasn’t sure,” but at the sound of a small chirp he put his finger to ear. For the first time, Victoria could see a tiny earpiece, as dark a shade as his mash, looped through it.

“That clears this all up,” he said.

Tattletale immediately stepped forward, gripping Victoria’s arm. “We need to get out now!” she yelled.

Victoria had been told to shut up and keep quiet for the trip. _“You are advisory. You are not to do any stunts,”_ Defiant had lectured. But she could see right now that wasn’t going to be an option. 

A black substance was flowing out of Abyss’ sleeves and pant legs, falling to the ground and coating it like oil. Chevalier tried to raise his cannonblade, but tendrils of the substance reached out and grabbed it. 

Victoria launched herself into the air unfolding the Wretch. Tendrils reached out, grabbing onto the Wretch. They had no hooks, and didn’t form hands, but they stuck with ease. Victoria dropped the Wretch, but the tendrils had already reached around its entire form as she did so, and her upward trajectory only took her right into them. More tendrils grabbed her, obscuring her vision of anything outside. Twisting herself in desperation, Vicky could only see a deep unnatural black, darker than anything she had ever seen, as she reached the pool on the ground. 

.

.

.

Victoria screamed as vision of something other than pure black returned, and the cold, cloying tendrils retreated. The place she was in was still dark though, lit by an ambient blue glow that seemed to have no particular source. The rest of the Wardens’ delegation was scattered around her. On either side, perhaps with forty feet between them, two walls of uneven obsidian stretched up as far as she could see. Further down the chasm ( _or abyss_ ) Wyvern and Abyss stood.

“Glad to have some privacy,” chortled Abyss. “This makes things easy.”

Victoria launched herself into the air without hesitation, summoning the Wretch. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that the others had had the same idea. Chevalier was stepping towards the two capes, although his cannonblade was nowhere to be seen. Out of her other eye, Victoria could see Tattletale seeming to reach for a gun around her waist, swearing as her hands futily grasped an empty belt.

Victoria accelerated towards the capes, but right away could tell something wasn’t right. She felt like she was barely moving. She had once tried to fly in the water in the Bay, and it had felt like this, the very medium of movement doing everything it could to keep her planted in place. 

As she tried to push despite this, she saw a flash of light at Wyvern’s mouth. In the blink of an eye, there was more than the abyss’ normal resistance fighting her as she was lifted up and away from the capes. A cable of glowing light reached from Wyvern’s mouth to the Wretch, alongside ones attached to Chevalier and Precipice. Precipice had summoned his silver blades, which glowed eerily in the dim light. 

The Wretch lashed out, raking an arm through the light-cable, but it passed through as though it weren’t there. Victoria dropped the Wretch, watching the line disappear into pinpoints of fading light, but, before she could reorient herself, another line had attached itself to her stomach, carrying her in the same direction as the previous one. 

Victoria pushed with her aura, giving the capes the strongest push she could muster.

Wyvern, unbothered, pushed her back to the rest of Gimel’s ambassadors, depositing her gently on ground made of smooth rock next to Tattletale.

Abyss gave another chuckle as he spread his arms like a showman. He seemed unbothered by the resistance in the air.

“That trick with the emotion… it is clever, Antares. Were it not for the preparation we had, you might have us there.”

_Shaker, draws people into a dimension by which he gets his name. Immune to the encumbrances of this place. And neither he or Wyvern seemed bothered much by my aura. Maybe something like those drugs Teacher made to neutralize Goddess?_

Victoria groaned a little. Hopefully this guy wasn’t like Happyland or Domain. The fact that he’d brought another cape, who seemed to be there to keep anyone else away from him, at least made it unlikely he was a god in this domain. 

For the first time since arriving at Shin, she spoke up.“Fucking _why_ are you doing this? We weren’t going to give you trouble. Do you need to beat us up just to prove a point?”

It was pure anger, she knew. Raw emotions being slung around, that they wouldn’t give a damn about it, but they deserved it. Power tripping over others like some sort of playground game. They’d thrown Breakthrough in prison for power, handed her off to fucking Amy, and gave Chris free reign while not seeming to care one whit.

_Fuck that._

Abyss waved his hands noncommittally. He leaned down to whisper something into Wyvern’s ear. The second cape, whose sluggish movements seemed to be affected by Abyss’ power, nodded at whatever he said.

“We do not believe all you. Miss Militia did not seem favorable. Immobilize you for the time being, it seems right.”

“I don’t buy it.”

“Oh you should,” said Tattletale, abandoning any pretense of her disguise. “They weren’t planning on doing this. Sure, Shin’s governments sent Amar as a tough face, but they still weren’t in the mood to cause an incident like this. Keeping us out? They’d do that. But they weren’t going to do this until Cut-in-the-ground here got that call. Something- and I think the rest of you can probably put it together that it’s what Lab Rat told them- pushed them to a contingency.”

“I can’t… get all those words, but they seem to have a good idea,” said Abyss, pacing effortlessly along the ground. Victoria was sure that he moved his hands, constantly sweeping so the gesture spanned the entirety of the chasm, to emphasize his strength, how he was unhindered here. 

Victoria lifted up her hand to fix her hair, grimacing at how long it took to lift her arm to her head. She leaned in towards Tattletale. 

“Can you get any read on his power?” asked Victoria, her voice stretching out as she struggled to move her lips.

“Need help? Fine. Well, I’ve been working overtime, first just tell me what you have so far.”

Victoria wanted to sigh, but restrained herself. She’d have to put up with that for now. For all of Tattletale’s needling and obnoxious mind games, she clearly knew her stuff, and humoring her, even in this situation, wasn’t the worst idea.

“I’m thinking he doesn’t really have any tricks up his sleeve beyond what he’s got here. His movement isn’t affected, but he isn’t doing anything else to immobilize us. He isn’t nullifying our powers, summoning more of that black stuff to hold us down, or doing anything other than having Wyvern keep us away from him. Basically, I think there is an opportunity for an escape here.”

“That’s about right,” said Tattletale. “He’s clearly concerned about someone getting up to him, even if he’s calm overall.”

Victoria glanced at Abyss again. He didn’t seem to mind Tattletale and her talking, if he had even seen it. He had propped himself up against Wyvern, leaning on the bulky cape.

His costume didn’t fit his demeanor, Vicky thought. His costume fatigues gave the impression of someone who was stern and no-nonsense, yet he behaved in a manner theatrical which stood out all the more when compared to the colorful, vibrant outfits favored by near-everyone on Shin.

“Can he keep us here if he isn’t physically present?” asked Vicky. The fact that he was staying here, and was accompanied by a cape that could telekinetically lash and move them meant one of two things. Either he was concerned about them escaping if he didn’t stick around, or they would only stay here as long as he did. 

“I can’t quite tell. But he is planning on staying here exactly as long as we’ll be around, so I wouldn’t be shocked if he couldn’t.”

Victoria looked around her. She could see no end to the chasm; its ragged walls stretched up and out further than her eye could see, melding into darkness. She didn’t know if she could fly out by climbing up. Abyss’ power had seemed to deposit her directly on the ground of the chasm, and even if she could escape by flying upwards (somehow evading Wyvern) the best she would be able to do would be search for help, evading Shin’s soldiers. 

And who knew how long Abyss could stay hunkered down here. Heading out horizontally seemed like even less of a shot. 

It was time to take a risk. 

Vicky floated over to Chevalier. She moved slightly behind him and explained her plan.

“You on board?”

She waited, as Chevalier remained silent for several seconds. “I didn’t want to antagonize them,” he said. “But this might be the only way.”

Victoria nodded. She moved away from Chevalier, to a point where she could expand the Wretch without hurting anyone. Making a sound that she felt was half-scream, half-growl, and hopefully convincing, she began to pulverize the nearby ground with the Wretch, spraying chunks of rock into the air. 

As far as tantrums went, that felt convincing enough.

Chevalier looked back, shaking his head with faux disappointment, and stepped forward towards Abyss and Wyvern with his hands raised. Wyvern attached a cable to him anyway, the connection forming between him and Chevalier so fast Vicky couldn’t tell if the light simply extended forward at an incredible speed or appeared instantaneously. Wyvern’s mouth glowed with a flickering light as he held his mouth open, the line stretching from it. 

“Do you have question?” asked Abyss.

“I want to know what Miss Militia did that made Amar decide to order this course of action.”

“I cannot tell you man. They were orders. I think you do not understand Shin very well if you think capes ask too hard about orders from people like Amar. He is a war hero for killing some of the Empress’ retinue, after all.”

“Would you be permitted some assistance from us? We believe that Antares could help. Even if you don’t want us to participate directly, we believe that she could pass on some information that your science teams may find useful.”

Abyss folded his arms, examining Chevalier up and down. “The science teams have vapor for brains. It would not surprise me if they need help from you lot. Maybe. Show me.”

Chevalier turned his head back. “Antares, you are going to approach the man and give him your phone, as I said.”

Victoria looked Chevalier dead in the eye, spitting out “must I,” with all the distaste she could muster.

“Yes. Remember who’s in charge here.”

“I’m going to float towards you,” said Victoria to Abyss, sighing and stretching her words with resignation after seconds of deliberate silence. 

“Don’t try to rush me again though, ein,” said Abyss. 

Victoria floated out towards him, inching past Chevalier.

“I need to take out my phone.”

Abyss nodded.

Victoria reached into her costume’s pocket, pulling out her phone. 

“I’m going to open it. After I unlock it, you can have Wyvern here grab it.. I’m just going to have to get a bit closer. You’ll need my voice to navigate some of it.”

His mask obscured his visage, but Vicky felt like she could see Abyss’ eyes narrowing. 

He barked an order to Wyvern, then said to Victoria, “He pulls you in. I hope you understand no signal escapes here. Do not try to blow me up. Technology… it doesn’t like this place.”

A second cable materialized Wyvern’s mouth, latching to the Wretch, and she began to inch closer to him. 

Vicky waited as she got closer. 

Breathing heavily she raised her phone, entering her passcode and holding it out in front her. Another line snagged it and reeled it inwards towards Wyvern. He placed it softly in Abyss’ hand. 

“Now,” said Victoria, “you need to tap the icon you see in upper right of the home screen.”

Abyss did so, gingerly tapping the screen with his thumb. Vicky noticed he jumped slightly as the application opened. 

Vicky brought the Wretch’s hands from behind her back, shards of rock clasped in her many hands. Still looking at the phone, Abyss and Wyvern noticed nothing. Victoria threw the rock forward. Even with the resistance afforded by Abyss’ domain, the rock traveled with frightening speed. They tore with ease through Abyss’ legs. 

Wyvern stared in shock at Abyss, not doing anything just yet. Victoria took advantage; in the space of a second, the Wretch broke the ground again, grabbing more rubble and firing it at Abyss. 

Belatedly, Wyvern sped Victoria away, pushing her straight back away from him and Abyss.

“ _Let us out_ ,” Chevalier’s voice boomed. His tone was somewhat less impressive with his voice slowed, but the voice was Chevalier’s at his finest. Bold, confident and unafraid. “You need medical attention and we don’t want to stay entrapped here. Cancel your power.”

For the first time, Wyvern spoke, letting out a stream of spluttered native words that sounded like curses, his lines to Victoria and Chevalier shattering. Abyss had dropped to the ground as the first round of shrapnel tore into his legs, and the second volley had lacerated his arms. He screamed in pain as blood dripped from his many wounds and fell to splatter the floor. Wyvern’s gaze switched between Abyss and Victoria with indecision, before he opened his mouth wider, more lines shooting out, grabbing every single member of Gimel’s delegation. 

_Fuck,_ Vicky thought as he began to lift each on them into the air. She could see Sveta vainly trying to escape by opening her body, while Precipice screamed as he slashed the light-cable with his blades.

Then the movement stopped. 

Wyvern’s face was turned towards Abyss. The black-clad cape shouted something to Wyvern. Wyvern stood for a moment before Abyss shouted again.

Wyvern dropped Victoria. 

Victoria briefly activated her flight to stop her descent before she saw what the floor had turned into. Where once there had been stone, the entire valley floor, as far as she could see, was coated in deepest black. She saw Precipice, in front of her, tumble head over heels downwards, falling into the black, vanishing without so much as a ripple into the surface.

Vicky turned her eyes to where Abyss and Wyvern had been, but they were gone. She looked around to see that she was alone in the chasm. Turning herself downwards, she plunged into the darkness.

.

.

.

Vicky found herself resting on the raised metal platform that Amar had met the embassy on. She wasted no time lifting herself into the air.

Chevalier had already picked up his cannonblade from the ground where he had slipped away, lifting it up, pointing it at Wyvern.

Vicky turned to Chevalier. “I’ll get help for Abyss, the rest of you can try to get out of here and find Legend and Miss Militia if you can!”

Chevalier nodded and barked out the order.

Victoria flew up to Abyss. As she did so, Wyvern opened his mouth, and a light-cable attached to the Wretch.

“I’m trying to help him!”

Wyvern ignored her, pushing her away at a high speed through the air. 

Abyss shouted something at Wyvern, who snapped his mouth shut, vanishing the light-cable. Victoria once again flew to Abyss. This time, Wyvern kept his mouth shut, although he kept his eyes locked on her with suspicion. 

Vicky landed next to Abyss, banishing the Wretch. He was bleeding, badly, and she had probably broken more than a few bones.

“Where’s the nearest place where you can get medical attention.”

Abyss gasped. “Behind the command tent. The…. the smaller green one.”

Victoria looked at Abyss, his arms flopped uselessly on the ground beside him. Carrying him… well, she might be able to do that, but in this condition, she wouldn’t want to risk it. 

For a second, the sound of Carol’s head opening filled her mind.

Victoria found herself yearning for Lookout’s help. The Wardens, or more precisely, Defiant, hadn’t allowed her to wear any of Lookout’s gear, or communicate with her without supervision. She _really_ could have used some of that help about now. 

Victoria launched herself upward, flying over the command tent and to the medical tent. She landed in front of the silvery green canvas whose entrance was embossed with a silver flower. Alongside two soldiers, a man in a red and white coat that extended past his knees stood. Well, he seemed appropriate. 

“Abyss needs medical attention” she said to the doctor. “He’s injured.”

There was the sound of a gunshot. The Wretch shattered.

One of the soldiers had lifted and fired his rifle. 

Victoria pushed with her aura. The soldiers stumbled back, the one who had fired tripping and tumbling onto his back. The doctor screamed and ran away. 

_Not what I wanted._

The second soldier’s wits had returned to him, and he lifted his rifle. Vicky surged towards him, the Wretch grabbing the rifle in one of its hands and squeezing, shattering it. The first soldier stood up, whipping out a baton from a loop on his belt. The Wretch yanked it out of his hands. 

Again, Victoria heard Carol’s head splitting open. She saw the sprays of blood as bullets shot through the legs of MYOSHA’s mercenaries. She felt Lionwing’s arm dislocating in her hand. _Let’s try not to hurt anybody too bad, okay?_

There was shouting. Gunshots. Soldiers coming from nearby. One pushed out of the tent. His eyes widened in shock at the sight of Victoria and Victoria activated her aura again. This soldier seemed to take it better. He froze for only a second. 

That was all Victoria needed. 

She flew up to him, the Wretch grabbing the gun right out of his hand. Then, she flew upwards and back over the command tent. 

Things weren’t going so hot over there either.

Chevalier faced down several of Shin’s soldiers, holding his cannonblade at one who had a clear shot at Precipice. As Victoria watched, Wyvern opened his mouth. A light-cable attached to the cannonblade, swinging it around, and knocked Chevalier off-balance. The soldier aiming at Precipice lifted his rifle to fire with his new-found safety, only to watch it break in half with a spark as he pulled the trigger, Precipice’s power cutting it right down the barrel. 

Victoria flew towards Wyvern from behind. His attention was focused on Chevalier, but more light-cables were reaching from his mouth, grabbing Precipice, Sveta and Tattletale. 

_Okay, you fragile little thing. Think you can do this gently?_

Victoria stopped shortly above and behind Wyvern. One of the Wretch’s hands came down in front of his face, invisible and silent. It grabbed his chin, another his skull. Wyvern’s jaw slammed shut, his light-cables vanishing. 

Victoria waited for his skull to buckle beneath the Wretch’s hands, splattering blood, brain matter and bits of bone out.

_No! Get-_

Wyvern’s skull held firm in the Wretch’s grasp.

Chevalier balanced himself, and he began to walk backward, his cannonblade still pointed in the direction of Shin’s soldiers. 

Victoria took the rifle the Wretch grasped and flung it to the ground near Tattletale. She laughed like a loon at that, but picked the weapon up.

“Yeah, I can keep an eye on this guy for you. But I’m not your hired gun or anything. Also, if I die in a shootout, you’d better feel bad about it. I want that to be a choice that haunts your dreams.”

Victoria rolled her eyes, but shifted herself as Tattletale took her place behind Wyvern. She lifted the rifle, pointing it at Wyvern. 

“I know you speak some English. You’ll understand this. I can tell if you’re going to do something. Before you can do it, I’ll fire this bullet and you’ll be dead. Play nice, and nothing bad happens to you.”

Victoria had the Wretch let go of Wyvern’s head. 

“Are you ok?” she yelled to Sveta and Precipice. 

“Surviving,” said Sveta.

“Mostly good,” said Rain. 

“Okay. Just hang in there for a bit. I’ll go see if anyone is coming our way. Just stay safe.”

Victoria once again flew up into the air, getting a bird’s eye view. Most of Shin’s soldiers had headed to the commotion in the research zone, and most of the remaining ones were frozen on the end of Chevalier’s cannonblade. She could at least see some medics running from the medical tent to the platform. 

_Shit_ , and soldiers trying to outflank Chevalier. 

Victoria plunged downwards towards the three soldiers. 

First, she hit them with her aura. They stopped in their tracks. 

Next, she flew in low to the ground. The Wretch grabbed things: a wastebasket of some sort, a crate. 

Victoria threw the wastebasket towards one of the soldiers and the crate at another. The second fell straight on his ass, so she turned to the first. The Wretch shattered his rifle with ease, and lifted him into the air. She turned, holding the soldier in front of her. The third soldier screamed something, unable to get a shot. Victoria threw his comrade into him, and the two sprawled. 

The last soldier stood up, grabbing his baton. Victoria flew ever lower, so low that her breastplate scraped the ground, slamming into his legs. The soldier’s appendages buckled, and Victoria lifted him. He was bulky, but it didn’t matter. She effortlessly pushed him to the ground. 

The Wretch reached out and broke apart his rifle. However, Victoria took the remaining intact one from the ground. 

As Victoria rose into the air, she could see no more soldiers unaccounted for. But, as she rose up high enough, she could see something glowing in the distance. _Is that a portal?_

She turned her eyes back to the platform. The soldiers who had been standing off with Chevalier had thrown down their weapons. Chris, Amar and his translator had exited from the command tent to the platform. The former was sulking back by the tent, while Amar stood in front of Chevalier, imperiously shouting. 

Several medics had placed Abyss on a stretcher and were moving him to the medical tent

Victoria descended to a lower altitude to hear them speaking. 

“If you think that you can engage in this despicable violence, then you are most assuredly mistaken,” said Amar’s translator, his nervous yelps not matching Amar’s thunderous, booming voice. “The governments of Shin will not stand for this.”

“Oh shut up,” drawled Chris. 

Amar and his translator turned to Chris, the Shin commander slack-jawed. 

“This is what we call a certifiable disaster,” said Chris, picking his mouth with the finger of his wing. “Look it’s pretty clear that no one was supposed to get hurt here. The governments of Shin wanted to send a message with Amar here, maybe even forcibly keep you from meddling with the Simurgh’s shit, but they sure as hell didn’t want a shootout. I mean, Gabin is pissy now that he doesn’t have a deterrent or a daughter, but a majority of Shin’s government doesn’t want a war or anything. Although I don’t know what they expected from leaving Yosef’s old war buddy in charge here.”

Amar backed up, but Chevalier lifted his cannonblade, extending it forward. The officer stepped back away from it, only to find his back pressed against a stack of crates placed just outside the entrance to the command tent. The extended cannonblade pushed him up against it. 

“Now,” said Chevalier, before another voice interrupted his. 

“You’re alive and out. Thank god you’re alive and out.”

Vicky turned to see a girl running across the platform, with a cape she didn’t recognize and two troopers trailing behind her. 

Dinah Alcott. 


	3. Queen of Oneself

**The Key**

“Okay,” said Adora as the girl stepped through the portal. “I don’t know who you are, but let’s keep things…”

“Who are you and what do you want? How do we know you’re not a spy for Horde Prime?” screamed Frosta, edging around from the other side of the portal. 

“I’m… who is that?” stuttered the woman.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” said Frosta.

“Frosta, that’s enough,” said Adora. Frosta opened her mouth to object but Adora shushed her. Remarkably, she listened. 

“Well, who are you?” asked Adora.

The woman glared at Frosta, flexing her fingers, before turning her gaze directly to Adora. “You can call me…” She hesitated. “Amelia. Amelia Dallon Lavere, I guess.” She paused for a second, brow furrowed “Or Red Queen,” she added belatedly. “I’m from Earth Bet,” she said, more calmly.

Catra leaned forward to whisper in Adora’s ear, “You know, I never really paid attention in geography class, but I don’t remember a place called Earth Bet. With the portal, we can figure she probably isn’t from around here.”

Glimmer stepped forward to stand side-by-side with Adora. She still held her hands up, prepped with glowing balls of pink energy. 

“Do you know where you are right now?” Glimmer asked.

Amelia seemed nervous, her face flushed red. “No, I don’t. I mean, it doesn’t look like any place I’ve ever seen before.”

“Do you know who Horde Prime is?”

“The loud one asked that before. I don’t know. Never heard of them.” Her gaze, as it wandered over to Frosta, had molded into one of contempt. 

“Would you say that you’re friendly?” asked Adora.

Amelia took one of her hands and began to rub the back of her neck with it. Adora could see Bow tense up, and she lifted a hand to calm him. 

“I am. As long as you don’t do anything bad to me, I’ll say.” She gave a weary smile at Adora. 

Adora shimmied over to Glimmer. “Can we let her come forward?” she asked. “I don’t think she means us any harm. I think she really is confused.”

Glimmer sighed, heaving her shoulders up and down. “It seems like the right choice. But Bow, keep your arrow aimed at her.” She paused. “That’s the net arrow, right?”

“It is,” said Bow. “I swear, I only mixed them up _once_ , you don’t need to double-check.”

Glimmer snorted, earning a resigned look from Bow. 

“Amelia Dallon Lavere,” she intoned. “You can place your hands down and approach us.”

Adora could see she was mimicking Angella. Her cadence was the same, slipping into a formal tone at odds with her earlier interrogation. 

“Thank you,” said Amelia, lowering her hands. She breathed a sigh of relief and stepped away from the portal, towards Adora.

Adora heard something, her ears barely noticing it. 

“Do you hear shouting?” she asked loudly enough for everyone to hear. 

Even as she asked the question, she could tell the answer. Those were definitely voices, and they were definitely getting louder. 

“Oh crap,” said Amelia. “I think I know who those people are.”

“Is it too much to hope for them being friends of yours who are deeply worried for you but also very calm?”

“I wouldn’t call them friends,” said Amelia. 

“Listen,” Adora said. “You do know them?”

Amelia nodded wordlessly. 

“Then let’s think this through,”

“We don’t have the time,” snapped Shadow Weaver, apparently having decided that it was her turn to control the situation. “It is very simple, Amelia. Can you talk them down? If not, Frosta, seal up the portal. Perfuma, be ready to do the same on the other side. Entrapta, get away from the portal. Catra, go find Melog.”  
“I’m not—”  
“Catra,” said Bow. “I think you should go get Melog. It seems like the right idea.”

Catra hissed at Shadow Weaver, but scampered off as she’d wanted. 

“So, can you talk them down, Amelia?” asked Shadow Weaver.

“I think I can keep them from shooting, but I can’t make promises.”

Adora was just about to say something, although she wasn’t really sure what it would have been when the first man appeared in the portal. He was dressed in a dull outfit, something dark with only some emerald-green highlights to liven it up. He raised something in his hands that looked like a weapon, and screamed something Adora couldn’t understand. 

“Well, Amelia,” said Bow. “Now’s the time.”

“Listen, they’re friendly,” shouted Amelia. “They don’t mean Shin any harm.”

The soldier kept his weapon pointed squarely at Bow, who in turn had his weapon aimed squarely at Amy. Adora could see other men in the same outfits filling in behind him. 

“I think you should stop aiming at Amelia,” said Glimmer.

“Okay,” said Bow. He swung his aim around. Right towards the men on the other side of the portal. 

Adora heard a crack of some sort in the air, followed by Amelia yelping and shouting at the man not to shoot in a pleading voice. Adora rushed in front of Bow, her sword turning into a shield. Her view obscured, she could catch Shadow Weaver yelling to seal the portal. The temperature of the air rose as Frosta summoned ice, which surged towards the portal. For several seconds, there was the sound of men screaming, ice scraping along the ground and grass growing to great heights. 

Afterwards there wasn’t quite silence. Adora could hear the muffled sounds of men speaking at high volumes through the portal as well as several of those same cracks. 

“Wow. That was nasty for a second,” said Adora. It was then she noticed what had happened to Bow. His breaths were ragged and shallow. From a wound in his chest, blood pulsed. He fell to the ground wordlessly.

Adora, in spite of herself, screamed. To see the red pulsing from him like that was horrifying. In all their fights with the Horde, against bots and enemy soldiers, she had never seen Bow injured like that, gasping feebly. 

But her shock only lasted for a second. She was She-ra. She had healed an entire land before, and she wasn’t going to let a single wound take a friend away like that.

As she leaned down over Bow, Amelia jostled past her, almost shoving her to the ground. “What do you think you are doing?” screamed Adora. She turned the Sword of Protection back to a sword from the shield, leveling it at Amelia’s back.

“No, trust me,” pleaded Amelia. “I’m a healer. Just let me do this. I have experience.”

Amelia placed her hands on Bow’s exposed stomach. Within a second, Bow’s wound began to close. In another second, it was gone. There was still a hole punched through his shirt, and blood sticking to it, but the skin was unharmed. Bow’s hands reached up to feel his chest, fingers running along the sealed skin. There were tears in his eyes as he looked up at Amelia. “Am I okay?”

Amelia nodded. “You’re okay,” she said quietly. 

“Then thanks for that,” Bow said, sitting himself upright. “I mean it. I’ll have to do something for you later.”

Beside Adora, Glimmer broke down into tears, hugging Bow and squeezing him until he begged her to stop. 

“I think,” said Shadow Weaver, her voice measured and cool, “that you have some explaining to do.” At an angry scowl from Glimmer she added, “Although we are all very grateful, of course.”

Amelia glanced at Adora again. “I have a power. It looks like some of you do too. I don’t know if that’s what you call them here. But I am Amelia, the Red Queen, and I make life do what I want… I heal. I guess I should fill you in on some of this.”

…….

Amelia sped through her story. Her telling was rushed, leaving gaps, but there was one conclusion that could be drawn from her ramblings — what had just happened was weird.

“And, that’s that.”

Despite almost losing Bow, Amelia’s miraculous restoration seemed to have put everybody in a fine mood, and there were naturally questions from the crowd. Or rather, there would have been if Entrapta hadn’t enthusiastically hogged Amelia and refused to let anyone else squeeze in a single word of inquiry.

Entrapta rushed Amelia. Warding off anyone else with half her hair, she held in the other a recording device. “So, does your healing only work when touch is applied?” she asked. Amelia barely squeezed in an affirmative answer before moving on to the next question, effortlessly holding a charging Frotsa in place with one hand of hair. 

Eventually, Adora was able to divert her attention from Amelia and towards the task of monitoring the portal just as she asked a bewildered Amelia some incomprehensible question about “deoxyribnuke repetition.” 

“Well, there haven’t been any shots since the barriers were first put up,” Entrapta said. “But there are still people on the other side. Emily’s got the equipment needed to keep an eye on them even if we can’t see them, which is wonderful inadvertent planning on my part.”

“Great. Then I think that you can have her keep an eye on the portal while you do... tech stuff that helps her out,” said Adora.

With a vigorous nod, Entrapta ran off to find Emily, returning with her and sitting herself down in front of the portal.

Once Entrapta was occupied, those who had been denied the opportunity to interrogate Amy surged forward with newfound strength. Frosta’s hostility from earlier had melted, and she bombarded Amelia with questions about her power (“Can you make someone who is dead alive?) and the gaps in her story (“Do you have a Runestone? Are you the queen of a kingdom, or is it just a cool name?”), while Castaspella unsuccessfully tried to pose her own questions. Netossa, meanwhile, tried to ask about whether or not Amelia could remove technology from someone’s body.

Maybe Adora should have made them ask questions one at a time. And let Netossa go first. At least Perfuma was quiet. 

And Shadow Weaver was approaching. _Wonderful_. 

“She’s clearly going through a lot. She deserves some time to herself, right?” Adora asked. 

“Yup,” said Glimmer.

“You wanna grumble about people’s expectations of you when they look up to you after?” asked Adora. 

“Sounds good,” responded Glimmer.

“I think you and Bow can take care of the crowd. Me and Catra can take her to some place where she can be alone for a bit.”

“Don’t you think Shadow Weaver will want Catra out here to stay with Melog?” asked Bow.

“Yes, and I don’t really want to listen to her,” said Adora. “Besides, Melog knows what they’re supposed to do. I think at least. It’s a little hard to tell what they think when they’re not just copying Catra. But it’s fine.”

Adora flagged over Catra while Glimmer and Bow went to work shepherding Amelia out of the surrounding throng. “We’re just going to give her a little time for herself,” she explained. “If this is a tough experience for all of us, imagine how she must feel. Ah, look, she’s coming right now.”

“I guess we’re okay with her?” said Catra, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes slightly.

“I think she’s earned it. At least until we can smooth things over with those people on the other side of the portal,” said Adora. Besides, if we can all get along with you at the moment, I don’t think she’ll have any problem fitting in.

“Huh.”

Amelia had stepped right up to Adora and Catra, Glimmer and Bow on either side of her, with the others watching from a distance.

“‘Huh what?” asked Catra.

“Oh,” said Amelia. “I was just wondering what you meant by ‘if we can all get along with you at the moment.”

Catra stiffened, the claws on her feet shooting out and digging into the dark soil underneath her feet. 

“It’s a pretty long story,” said Adora. “If she wants to tell it to you, I won’t stop her, but it’s a bit of a sensitive spot. I probably shouldn’t have even brought it up.”

Catra blew some air up out of her mouth.

“You can probably take that as a no. Anyway, Glimmer, Bow, can you keep everyone calm? I know you got them to leave Amelia here alone, but I just need you to make sure they stay that way. Mostly, I just want you to keep Shadow Weaver away for as long as you can.”

“You got it, Adora,” said Bow. “Oh, Amelia. I know I already said this, but thanks for what you did. I wasn’t expecting you to save my life when I first saw you, that’s for sure.” He laughed and turned to run off, while Glimmer nodded and disappeared in a flash, reappearing right next to a startled Netossa. 

“Okay, Amelia. We’re going to take you to a tent and let you lie down for a bit. Oh, if you want it, of course,” added Adora, blushing sheepishly. 

“Yes, that sounds nice.” 

Adora walked ahead to lead Amelia to her tent, Catra keeping pace alongside her. 

“We’ll try to fix this. For now, the portal is safely covered by Perfuma and Frosta’s barriers, and we’ve got Entrapta keeping an eye on things across it. Once you’ve recovered a bit from all this, we can start putting something together to fix this mess.” Adora paused. “But, we don’t have that much time. We _will_ need to patch this up quickly.”

“So, there _is_ a bigger problem.”

“Yeah,” said Catra, giving a quiet snort. “You could say that there is, in fact, a pretty big problem hanging over our heads.”

Adora opened the flap to her tent, letting Amelia duck in. Catra followed and Adora stepped in behind her. 

“What is it?”

“Do you really want to hear all about the impending doom we face while we try to give you some time to recuperate?” asked Adora. 

“I guess being able to relax can be important,” said Amelia. She stared at her hands, covered in red designs, including a flower with deep crimson petals.

Glimmer appeared right in front of Adora, accompanied by sparkles of pink.

“Is it Shadow Weaver?”

Glimmer gave Adora a look of deep pity. “It is. She absolutely wants to talk to you, and I’m not managing to keep her down.”

“Okay,” said Adora. “Catra, stay here with Amelia. Amelia, feel free to talk about anything you want with her while I go sort out this evil witch’s hunger for power.”

Glimmer put her hand on Adora’s shoulder. “To think I once thought I didn’t need any help being Queen.” They teleported.

**The Red Queen**

She wanted to know more. Catra ( _what sort of name was that. It was like a toddler had named a cape)_ hadn’t explicitly said no to explaining her story with Adora. 

Time to ask a question.


	4. Best-laid Plans

**The Servant**

  
  


1 Hour ago

She was the only person he knew who could truly make him feel shame. He had been yelled at by protestors who wanted him whipped and dragged through the streets, sneered at by politicians who conspired to bring him down from power, and been told by families of the Fallen Many that they hoped his soul never found rest. He did not care what they bayed. But the humiliation he felt under Ejan’s gaze was more than anything they could ever have made him feel.

Ejan’s face was twisted into a tragic diorama. One of her eyes had been torn out of its socket, and a scar ran from underneath her eyepatch, across her face, to her left ear, which had been cleanly sliced horizontally. Her right cheek bore a brand depicting the gauntlet emblem of the Blue Empress and an open mouth would reveal her lack of a tongue.

Even on her ruined face, her one eye burned with the Fires of Judgement. 

Luis placed the package on the table in front of Ejan. “It’s a new outfit. They’ve become quite fashionable among high-society now. It’s inspired by the flowing outfits of the Lone Sands, but with more solid colors, less patchwork.”

Ejan stared up at him from her seat at the dining table and tipped her head in a slight nod. She gave him no more acknowledgement, returning to her soup.

Luis watched his sister for another second. He felt that he should say something to her, but - as always - his tongue latched to the roof of his mouth, unable to formulate anything that would be  _ right _ . He could spin conversations however he wanted in any other place, but here any topic of conversation was like trying to commune with a statue. 

The only thing he could say that might make her respond, make her look upon him with anything other than a glare, was an apology for what he had done. For serving Goddess, and later her government, after one of her personal servants had maimed Ejan. But that was the one thing he would not do. His service had brought him the opportunity to shape this world, and that was not something he would apologize for. He would speak for those she had harmed. That was his redemption. 

Luis turned his back on Ejan and walked towards the doorway.

The normally quiet nighttime in the High Spirit housing of the Capitol was nervous tonight, as the alarm warning of the Simurgh’s presence had left most of the inhabitants awake despite the late hour. Hopefully the last person Luis needed to see would be among them. 

Luis left the dining hall, the package unopened on the table as he strode into the hallway, lined with a carpet adorned with images of red eagles. He turned left, and walked down its length, his head bowed. At the end of the hallway, there was a cased opening leading to a rarely used game room, and just before it, on the left left hand side of the hallway, a small undecorated door. Battered, with its red paint chipped off in places. 

Luis removed his necklace, holding the plain brass key in his right hand. He inserted the key into the door’s lock, and walked down the creaky stairs that it opened to reveal.

The stairs lead to a small basement room, unfinished, its walls and floors barren of any decoration. The only objects in the room were a dusty exercise machine and an old ornament. Made of mahogany wood, it was carved in the image of a tree sapling whose branches ended in snakes, some with open mouths, frozen as though they were striking at prey. 

There was another door in the room, and Luis opened that one with the same key. This room was made as a living space, and it included a bed, desk and screen, all plain but comfortable. 

A man of more than forty years rested on the bed, awake but unmoving. 

The use of capes on Earth Shin had been rare following Goddess’ disappearance. Virtually all the most powerful had been under her alignment, and there was a deep-seated distrust of any capes, even new powers, among the population. The Founders, ever mindful of optics and the tightrope they walked in the government, had renounced using capes without majority approval by the governments. Most of the capes who did serve one faction or another were firmly held by hawks who had fought against Goddess. 

The Founders were correct to be mindful of public perception around using capes.

Their failure, Luis had always thought, was not considering the benefits of secrecy. 

“Hello, Adam,” said Luis. 

Luis’ pet cape leapt to attention with ease, propelling himself upright, and pressing his right hand to his left chest as quickly as he could manage. It was unnecessary, but Luis had learned that there was no persuading him to lessen the formality. 

Adam’s hair was graying early, but he was otherwise fit. He was taller than Luis, and his gray eyes shined with vigor. 

“I could have called you, but I was already headed this way to speak to a few individuals I need the support of, and I figured I may as well deliver my gift to Ejan and give you instructions while I was here.

“As you are hopefully aware from the emergency alerts, the creature known as the Simurgh just attacked Shin. She has left a variety of Tinkertech in the region near the portal to Gimel, and due to a series of bad decisions by our governments, Amar has been entrusted to meet the Wardens’ delegation there. Seeing as this is a recipe for a catastrophe, I want you there to monitor things and report anything significant to me. You should have already received the coordinates.”

Adam nodded. “I will head there right away.” His voice was crisp and official, but he smiled like a child. It didn’t sit quite right with Luis. While it was great that Adam followed orders, the fact he did it with constant enthusiasm and broad smiles was unsettling to him. Better than insubordination, sure, but people were supposed to follow orders with some hesitation, not unbridled enthusiasm. 

Adam was powerful. Perhaps he didn’t have the destructive power or incredible control of some capes, but a man who could disappear into the ground and travel across the world in hours was impressive. Yet, he was unambitious, devoid of any drive or desire to be something. There were some, like Goddess had been, who were powerful and driven to use it. 

Luis considered himself driven, even if he was weak. Yet there was something unsettling about someone so powerful who didn’t seem to care what he could do with it. For a while, Luis had been scared, but he had parsed Adam’s voice and what he said, and it was clear that there was no sinister desire hiding behind his crisp salutes and childish smiles. 

“Thank you. While I have a few men embedded among Amar’s forces, I frankly doubt that they will have the ability to properly inform me as long as they are under his eye. Don’t do anything rash or reckless. Simply observe what happens there.”

Adam headed to his nightstand and pulled out a handgun, which he holstered on his belt, and a blue and white mask that he placed over his face. He gave one last salute. With a faint sound, he slipped into the floor. 

Luis watched Adam disappear. He would need to return to the other Founders now for if things went wrong. Which, frankly, was exactly what he expected. Gabin’s grief at the loss of his daughter had ruined his ability to make decisions, and Luis had been unable to stop him from pushing the Coalition to send Amar and his soldiers- real, trained soldiers, not those puppets of Goddess- to meet the Wardens. They had been cursorily told to avoid fighting unless necessary, but Luis wouldn’t trust Amar to avoid getting an itchy trigger finger if a machine sparked or the Dallon sisters spat at each other. 

Luis nearly jogged back to the Capitol building. Things were getting well out of hand, and without the Giants to serve as a unifying point between the government’s factions, things would only grow more uncertain. 

_ We’re navigating the rapids, approaching a waterfall, we’ve lost our cannons and they’re still trying to throw rocks. _

It was time to see if anything could be salvaged.

**Antares**

From the sky, Victoria could see Dinah Alcott huddling with the troopers. They leaned around her, whispering to her. Alcott extracted herself from the huddle. “Okay,” she said, her voice quiet and wavering. “Okay,” she said again, stronger. “The courses of action we are going to take are simple. Contact the Founders. Get Miss Militia and Legend. Pacify the area. After we do so, I will bring in my additional capes, and we will enter the Simurgh’s graveyard over there.”

“Are you sure?” asked Chevalier. He had turned his body to better address Dinah, but he still kept his cannonblade and one eye pointed at Amar. 

Dinah withered under Chevalier’s gaze for a second, but stood herself taller. “It  _ is _ safe. I get your concern, but I can assure you of that.”

Dinah facepalmed, her fingers vigorously massaging her forehead above her blindfold. “Listen, Citrine has decided to trust me on this. Do I need to call her? I can call her.” Dinah paused for a second, freezing herself in place. Then she fumbled into her pocket and pulled out a phone. “I can call her right now and prove it.” 

“Then prove it.”

Dinah nodded, and Victoria noticed she had already placed her thumbs over the phone’s screen before Chevalier had said a word. She punched in the numbers quickly, although Victoria could see her hands shaking. Dinah then rushed towards Chevalier, holding out the phone. At her height, she couldn’t hear what sounds came out of it, but Chevalier nodded to Alcott. 

Victoria lowered herself towards the ground, landing near Chevalier. 

“Glad you’re here Antares,” said Dinah. Without hesitation, she pointed at Chris. “Where are Miss Militia and Legend?” 

Chris tilted his head, his emaciated form twisting in an unnatural way as his neck turned close to a half-circle. “Did the odds really say that this was the best way to get that information?” he asked and gave a wheezing laugh. “They’re fine,” he said. “They’re piled up in the command tent.”

“Are you expecting me to believe that you managed to immobilize Legend?” asked Chevalier incredulously. 

“Look, even  _ he’s _ not all that tough when his lungs are full of drugs that bring his powers down to nothing.”

“Shin’s capes attacked us after you went into the command tent,” shouted Precipice. “Did you do that?” 

Chris chortled again, as though he found the entire scenario a hilarious joke. “I just told Amar here what had happened on the other side of the Simurgh’s playground, and he decided that meant you all needed to be taken out of the action for the time being. Not really a particularly smart course of action, if you ask me, especially since it seems like Antares here has to crack a few skulls the instant she isn’t allowed to be the fucking hero, but it’s what he wanted.” 

Victoria could feel his gaze turning to her as he said that. His words were the same goading as when she had visited Shin for the first time with Breakthrough, his resentment the same as when she had visited the community center and he had responded by attacking her motivations. Every word was a barbed hook designed to catch into her flesh and tear.

For now, she ignored him. He wasn’t worth confronting. 

“Okay,” said Dinah. “Next, Precipice, Tress, head into the tent to retrieve Miss Militia and Legend. There is a small element of danger. Tress, you should enter first, with Precipice doing so once you have given an all-clear.”

“I want to speak with Antares first,” said Sveta. 

Dinah bowed her head for a second. “Okay, you….. And Precipice can speak to Antares.” She paused for another second. “But no more than 4 minutes. That’s the maximum I can allow.”

Sveta walked over to Victoria, stealing a glance backwards towards Dinah, who was approaching Tattletale, her rifle still pointed at the back of Wyvern’s head. 

Victoria lifted herself off the ground slightly, floating towards Sveta.

“Are we going to play along with this, Antares?” asked Sveta.

“First things first, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Sveta. “Nobody managed to get a shot in at me.”

“And you, Precipice?”

“Yeah,” said Rain. “ I didn’t even get a scrape! One of my mechanical arms broke, but it should only take a moment or so to repair it.”

_ I guess the world really is on the verge of ending. _

“Okay,” said Victoria. “Then I guess we have to go along with her.”

“And are  _ you _ okay?” interrupted Sveta. “Don’t think you’re going to get away without saying anything about how you’re doing.”

“I made it out as good as both of you did,” said Victoria. “Sucks that we’re being dragged around like this though.”

“I honestly prefer this to our last visit to Shin,” Rain said, unscrewing a bolt on one of his mechanical arms. “I don’t like fighting people like this, but I’d rather do it than get locked in some prison with people who hate you, cameras operated by people you can’t see watching you the whole time, you know.”

“Yeah,” said Victoria. “It’s a pretty good visit, all things considered.”

Sveta made another glance towards Dinah, who was speaking to Chevalier now, gesturing at the heroine accompanying her while he watched stoically.

“You don’t like this do you?” said Victoria. 

“No,” said Sveta. “I don’t. I know Dinah’s different, and she didn’t do… this to me, but it just reminds me too much of  _ her _ . The way she shows up and decides to run the show, because she knows best and we wouldn’t understand. 

“I get that,” said Victoria. “Look, I’m not enthusiastic about this either. We saw what can happen when Dinah’s plans go wrong. But the Mayor has decided to trust her with this. It’s a delicate situation, and I’m not happy saying this, but I think we should do what she says.”

“And if she’s wrong?”

“Then we’ll do what’s right.”

Rain took a step back from Sveta and Victoria, and Dinah popped up beside him, her troopers near her. 

“Precipice, Tress, I take it that you’re set now?”

Victoria got the impression Sveta had wanted to say something else, and her eyes narrowed with displeasure, but before she could say anything, Rain interrupted with a cheery “all ready.” 

Sveta said nothing.

“Did you have something you wanted to say, Tress?” asked Victoria. 

_ Best not to bury what she thinks.  _

Sveta delayed for a second. “No,” she said, finally. “I’m good to go.”

_ Hopefully she really is okay with this.  _

_ I know I’m not. Not entirely. _

Tress entered the command tent. Not fifteen seconds later, she shouted out an “all clear,” signaling Precipice to follow her in. 

Again, Dinah huddled with the troopers, the cape that accompanied her standing to the side. The cape was a slim woman whose costume was evocative of the tight and gaudy spandex of a pre-Scion comic book hero, but with a professional designer’s touch rendering it pleasing to the eye, its muted blue-green colors highlighted with complementary slashes of orange along the shoulders and knees. 

“In order to contact the Founders in the way most likely to prevent incident, Luis of that faction should be contacted directly. We were already able to persuade the captain of the local security forces not directly controlled by Shin’s governments to stand down upon our entrance,” said Dinah. She pointed at Amar’s translator, who was still huddled near him. “Your commander has a line of communication directly to Luis. I know he has shared it with you. Be prepared to contact him, but only do so under my supervision.”

Next, Dinah pointed at Victoria. “You will travel into the Simurgh’s Tinkertech.” Her forehead wrinkled for a second. “With Cryptid. He will be sent ahead of you. You will ensure the soldiers in the zone aren’t hostile. Assess the situation there, but do  _ not _ enter.”

Victoria felt uneasy about it. She knew what she had agreed to, but part of her still felt uneasy about trusting the lead of a girl, who, less than twenty-four hours earlier, had left Wardens headquarters rejected by its authorities, who had boosted and supported people who had planted car bombs and demeaned her and her friends on television and in public. And she took charge like Contessa had in Cauldron’s compound, yet insisted that the bogeyman was leading them down a path to catastrophe. 

Following orders was part of being a hero. But this was a strange situation to be following orders in, listening to a girl she didn’t trust - with no formal authority - barking out a sequence of commands she barely understood. 

_ But it’s the best chance. For now anyways. _

Victoria turned towards Chris. “You first.” Chris lifted himself into the air, not bothering to respond with anything more than a grunt. His flight was ungainly and ragged, his wings beating with great effort in slow arcs. She held back behind him as he flew over the Simurgh’s Tinkertech, dropping noticeably as his wings lifted up on each flap, unevenly pulling himself higher into the air each time as he brought them down. She could have passed him in seconds. She settled on following behind.

The Tinkertech that had been deposited by the Simurgh shared no central theme. Even when built for different purposes, most Tinkertech made by a single individual had commonalities that were clear when they were placed side-by-side. Anything from Kenzie’s specialty of boxes, to even similarities in color and texture could be found between different pieces of work by the same Tinker, but the pieces strewn across the ground bore no such similarities. 

The largest devices Victoria could see were easily 20 feet tall. One was a prism, while another was an amalgamation of piping reaching into a glowing orange core, each pipe leading away from the core only to feed back into it. Smaller devices were scattered around, some resting on the ground, others embedded into the soil, embodying a seemingly endless variety of contraptions. A sack suspended on stilts in the ground pulsed like a heart, leaking white fluid through a tear, while nearby a propeller whose blades ended in drills crackling with green energy rotated listlessly. However, most of the devices seemed devoid of power, resting without any hints of life. 

It didn’t take much time flying over the Simurgh’s ruins before it became clear what had caused Amar’s swift actions. Sitting over a region of disturbed soil, she could see the glow that had caught her attention earlier. It was indeed a portal. 

However, the portal was no longer open. Its face was sealed with a mixture of ice and enlarged vines which blocked any view of where it led. They spilled into the air and ground outside it, and a region with a radius of roughly twenty or so feet outside the portal where the ground was coated with the ice. 

Chris landed without so much as looking back at her. He barked orders to the soldiers without any hesitation. The soldiers seemed hesitant to listen to him. One got belligerent, shouting in his face in a tortured mixture of English and his native language, but Chris was able to cow him by approaching him and rearing on his legs to loom over him. 

Once the soldiers had listened to Chris, Victoria landed, a safe distance away from the portal. “What happened here?” she asked. The portal hummed quietly, cutting the silence of Shin’s soldiers. 

“I’m not sure what else there is to say,” said Chris. “A portal opened in the middle of the ground.” 

“Is that all there was to it?”

“Well, there is  _ one _ more thing, I guess.”

Victoria wished she could see his expression. Chris was hardly  _ emotive _ when he wasn’t in one of his forms, but she could at least tell something from that, unlike now, where his inhuman expression was utterly inscrutable. 

“Your sister is right on the other side of that portal,” he said, his voice dripping acid. He didn’t seem satisfied about it though. It was hardly like he was rubbing it in her face, but more like he was contemptuous of Amy. 

_ Thank you, Kid Cassandra. _

_ Fuck me. _

“So, we’re walking towards the science tent, and then Amy sees some flashing lights and, in what I have to assume was  _ some _ kind of mind-control, ran right up so she could see whatever piece of crap was blinking. I mean, she hasn’t exactly been on top of things lately, but I never thought she’d deteriorated that much. Next thing that happens, that portal opens right in front of her, and she is through it before I can even explain how much of an  _ idiot _ she is being. Apparently she was fine and said that everyone on the other side was friendly, but Ehajmar here let his trigger finger get the best of him. He shot one of the people on the other side.”

_ Christ, is every soldier here desperate to turn everything into a shootout?  _

Victoria looked to the portal, and the barrier that prevented her from seeing to the other side. Amy was there, just out of reach. As far as she was concerned, she would be best kept that way, but she could already hear Dinah’s voice as she pointed her finger, ordering the portal blasted open. 

“We’ve got at least a few minutes, assuming that Dinah's precious plan doesn’t go belly-up,” said Chris. “I hope you’re prepared for this.”

Victoria couldn’t make sense of his gaze, and again wished for something more human. 

_ Does he really want me to be ready, or is he mocking me because he is willing to let Amy have her way? _

A warm night breeze blew as Victoria stared at the portal. Soon, she should ask the soldiers if any of the soldiers could tell her more details about what they had seen on the other side and how the portal had been sealed. But for now, she stared into the opaque ice. This time, she wouldn’t be alone with Amy. She wouldn’t be trapped, forced underneath her mercy. Her heart pounding, she steeled herself for what would come next. 


	5. To Forgive

**The Builder**

Luis approached the center of the rostrum, the eyes of Shin’s governments watching him. He saw awe, trepidation and disgust. From high on the wall, the Guardians, massive beasts of stone, looked without emotion at him, as he stood upon the exquisite mosaic of gold that formed the image of five crowns in a circle, underneath a vaulted ceiling carved with the likenesses of Shin’s greatest heroes.

Evert of the Red Fang watched him with the strongest distaste of them all, his eyes burning with the fury that could only be summoned from the most deep-seated of beliefs. Luis paid him nothing more than a look. He was not the focus here.

“We are crossing a bridge of land stretching over a tumultuous sea. On the horizon we can see the dark clouds of a storm approaching us with the promise of death. Do we not have a duty to our citizens to see them through this storm and bring them across the bridge? To see that they are not wiped away by the elements like so much refuse?

Now came the delicate part. Peace without surrender. Condemnation without judgement. Luis raised his voice higher.

“We have been accompanied thus far in the water by serpents who could rise from the water to feast on us at any time, dragging our lives down into the dark, cold water. No doubt this is a travesty. We have had to feed these serpents to satiate their hunger. But they have not yet struck. We tried to create cannons that could slay these serpents. Those efforts have been waylaid. 

“Now, facing a tempest that could sweep us from our footing, our choices are clear. We can either throw stones at the great serpents beside us in the water, or we can be protected from the squall. Do we want to die vainly pelting beasts of the deep? Or do we want to reach for survival, so that we may set foot on safe shores?

“I understand the anger. Luis, the name the world knows me by, is itself a memory of the suffering inflicted on us. I understand the losses that we have suffered. I too, look for the day where we can strike with our full strength and achieve the freedom we deserve. But our fight means nothing if we do not survive to make it. So set aside your anger, for only a time, so that we may live for the day that we may truly be free!”

Luis’ voice came with the full force of the passion he could muster. More than he felt, honestly. It was still dark out, and the worst time to give a speech was when you were dead on your feet after a stressful day stretched into the night. 

But he had done well. He knew that. The fact that he had been able to take the final word on the floor without Evert or Abeil feeling confident enough to try to stall him was a sign of favor. The only question was if Gabin would be swayed. 

Well under an hour of debating and posturing was unusual, but a decision had needed to be made posthaste. 

“A show of hands,” Luis said. 

Evert of the Red Fang raised his left hand, voting against cooperation. 

As expected. 

Next came Arlet of the Barrow Watchers, joined by the Founders in an affirmative vote. 

Abeil led the Crescent Collective in joining the Red Fang. 

All eyes turned to Gabin and the Coalition. Gabin himself sat with his shoulders slumped, his root-dark figure enveloped in flowing robes that brought to mind the course of a river.

It was only seconds between Gabin and everyone else raising their hands, yet it felt to Luis like it stretched on for an eternity. Finally, Gabin raised both of his hands. The rest of the Coalition followed, some raising their right hands alone. Enough. 

_I guess you aren’t an obstacle after all._

Normally formalities would have been in order, but there was no time for that. Luis stalked out of the chamber. He pulled out his communicator and punched a short message into it. 

_Yes vote, on coop. Gov will send support_

The response was even shorter. 

_Received_

He had been surprised, but the urgency of pulling back Shin from the brink had proven to be an important point of agreement between him and this Kid Cassandra, and her requests seemed reasonable. What was the phrase that he had heard Goddess say once? Strange bedfellows. Strange bedfellows indeed. 

**Catra**

Catra felt a modicum of discomfort being left alone in the tent with this strange guest, and she couldn’t quite place her claw on it. Nobody else seemed to mind, but Catra’s skin crawled and her fur raised just a little bit at being alone with her.

_I wonder if this is why I end up pushing people away._

Amelia was still staring at the spot in the air where Adora had teleported away with Glimmer, a dazed look on her face. She didn’t say anything, instead sitting down beside Adora’s bedroll. 

“Can I ask you something?”

“Is it that question from earlier about how I get along with Adora?” asked Catra.

Amelia winced at that. Catra went back over what she had just said in her head. She _had_ sounded harsh. Too biting perhaps? She felt a small bubble of panic come to the back of her throat at the idea that she was taking someone, someone she had just met, and pushing them away. _Try to be nice, Catra._

“I guess I was just wondering why you’re here,” she said.

“Yeah, I know it’s not a very nice place, that’s for sure,” said Catra, giving the bedroll a kick. “We don’t even have tents for most of us. Adora said she had a nice one before I came here too. Spacious, made of nice cloth from Brightmoon, even had a real bed… anyway, I wasn’t there, but apparently their previous camp got utterly trashed and they lost everything.”

Amelia nodded.

“That wasn’t the question you wanted to ask, was it?” 

Amelia gave a strangled series of mumbling sounds in response that Catra almost could have interpreted as a half-hearted protest of innocence. 

_This is the craziest thing. Am I really going to offer to tell her this stuff? After Adora gave me an out earlier?_

_I guess I just want to tell somebody. Somebody who didn’t witness all of it._

“Come on, Amelia. Do you want to know or not?”

_Was that putting her on the spot too hard? Pushing her to make a decision she might not want to make?_

To Catra’s relief, Amelia smiled instead. She sat up a little straighter, her slouching posture vanishing as she lifted herself straighter and more alert. 

“Yes, I would like to hear about that.”

“There’s a lot to this,” said Catra. “But I was a bad friend. I hurt people around me. And now she is giving me a second chance. One I want to make the best of.”

Amelia’s posture went even straighter than before. Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at Catra.

Catra felt that same unease creeping up her spine again, looking into eyes that seemed to shine with what she could only call excitement. For a moment, she imagined herself backing off, not telling Amelia a word more than she already had. But she reached back in her mind to Amelia trying to talk down the soldiers at the portal, and her healing Bow.

_I really am not a good judge of character, am I?_

“So, the first thing you need to know is that me and Adora were raised together. Basically from birth. We grew up serving the Horde in the Fright Zone.”

“You really grew up together? You shared your lives with each other?” asked Amelia, shuffling herself along the ground closer to Catra. 

“Yup. We shared a bed. We trained together. We basically shared every experience together.

“I wasn’t always a good friend. I guess I made that clear already. But the thing about Adora was that she always was willing to forgive. I could scratch her with my claws, and she would hold out her hand and to me. There were so many times where I treated her wrong, but she never stopped being my friend, never stopped trying to help me.”

“Never?” asked Amelia, seeming more crestfallen than she had a second ago.

“Well, not precisely never. You’ll see.

“Anyway, one day Adora left. I guess that’s the simplest way of putting it. She was captured by some people, Bow and Glimmer, actually, and she decided that she was leaving the Horde. We’d spent our entire lives there, and she just... _left_. 

“She went to go serve the Princess Alliance, and I stayed behind. And every difficulty, everything I had disliked about her just seemed to grow worse in my mind each day after. She got to be She-Ra, a 7 foot tall magical swordswoman. And even with Adora gone, all Shadow Weaver — the woman who had raised us — seemed to care about was getting her back. I became Force Captain, and she didn’t care. All she wanted was Adora back. I might as well not have mattered. 

Even now, that memory of smashing Shadow Weaver’s crystal, severing her from the Black Garnet, made Catra feel so very happy.

“We fought a lot. Adora was always there with her new friends, and it seemed like she would _always_ win, while I would go back to the Fright Zone with my tail between my legs. But I started to make friends there. Scorpia. She… you don’t know her. Entrapta was with us for a time. I supported them. I took Shadow Weaver’s place by Hordak’s side. Even when I was out there, losing to Adora, things felt different. 

“And then I threw it all away.

“I helped Hordak make a portal. And then Entrapta told me that opening it… opening… opening it could destroy Etheria. And I shipped her off. And I lied about it. I said she had betrayed us. I opened the portal to get back at Adora. I nearly destroyed us all.

“That made Adora give up on me. She’d always had faith in me, but that time, I had gone too far for her. She said she was over me, done trying to reach out to me.”

“She really said that?”

“Well, something to that effect. I honestly can’t blame her though. It was my fault.”

“And if it hadn’t been your fault?”

“Then we would be in a very different place right now.”

Amelia’s hands were clasped tightly together, but Catra could see them shaking.

“After that, it was one thing after another. Scorpia left. Hordak found out I lied about Entrapta’s betrayal and tried to kill me. The team I was Force Captain of abandoned me. And I was alone.

“It was there, when everyone I cared about had left me, that she finally brought me back. She saved me from an alien warlord out in space when she could have easily left me behind. I helped Glimmer escape, staying behind so she could get away. I thought I was doomed. That was going to stay a servant of that monster until I died. And Adora came back for me. She came back when she could have flown as far away as possible, and it would have been the easy choice for her.”

Catra let out a deep, relieved sigh.

“That’s the short version, anyway. I certainly don’t blame you if you find it a little hard to believe it, Amelia.”

“Is it the same?”

“The same?  
“The same now as before Adora left the Horde.”

“Definitely not. It’s not like we were able to just make up. And her friends still give me glances when they think I’m not looking. But, I think we are friends again. And I am making amends.”

“Friends,” Amelia said, unclenching her hands to rest them on her knees. “Friends,” she said again, clasping her hands. “Why did Adora save you?”

“I don’t think it’s something you can cut down to a simple answer like that. But, like I said, I think it’s because she wants to see the best in me. She wants to believe in me. And I gave her something she could hold on to, a reason to believe that, despite everything I had done, I was still someone worth having in her life.”

“I guess some people are just naturally willing to forgive and see the good in people,” said Amelia, her voice trembling.

“Hey, I’m not always great at reading this stuff, but are you okay, Amelia?”

“No, not really.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Amelia hesitated for a second, and Catra could tell she was unsure of how she would respond as she bit her lower lip. Catra didn’t push her to respond. 

“Yes, that would be nice,” Amelia finally said.

Catra sat down on the ground beside her.

“She still won’t forgive me,” Amelia said, her fingernails digging into her palms. “One bad day, one mistake and no matter what I do, she wants nothing to do with me. I save lives every day. I have lost count of how many lives I have saved since Gold Morning, and she just doesn’t care.”

“When you say she wants nothing to do with you-”

“She doesn’t even want to see me. She flies into a rage if I walk up to her. Nothing I ever do is good enough for her to even look at me like I’m not the worst person in the world.”

Catra nodded. “When did you last see her?”

“Not a week ago,” said Amy. “And twice a few months before that.”

“ Uh, huh. And, if she didn’t want to see you, how did you end up in the same places?”

Amelia let out a deep breath and muttered out a response. “She does hero work. Her work brought her to me the last two times. Before that it was a family event. She was told ahead of time, but made a scene anyway.”

“Hero work?”  
“Yeah, she’s a hero. Dresses up in costume and beats up the bad guys.”

“People do that of their own free will?”

Amelia gave Catra a puzzled glance.

“I’m kidding. That sounds positively noble.”

“So, you’ve met those three times since you two fell out with each other.”

“Yes. Just those three.”

“Look, Amelia,” said Catra. “Like you said, some people aren’t forgiving. If someone doesn’t want to forgive you, I don’t think you can make them.”  
“But-”

“Listen to me, first, all right.”

Amelia swallowed, but nodded her head. That same crestfallen look Catra had seen on her earlier had come back stronger. 

“I think what’s most important is that you’re willing to change. I pushed people away and hurt them, but I am trying to help people. I helped Glimmer because I believed it was the best thing to do. I’m not perfect. I have so much more to make up for. But doing the right thing, not doing what you did in the future — that’s the best step you can take. You can’t make whoever you’re talking about forgive you for what you did if they don’t want to. But you can ensure you never hurt someone like that again. And you can find someone who appreciates you.”

“I guess,” said Amelia, “it’s just that I want _her_ to be the one that forgives me, not anyone else. We shared so much together. So many memories, like you and Adora did. And, there are other people like her. But I didn’t share all those experiences with her. They’re just not the same as her.”

_These two must have been close._

Catra felt images creeping in her mind, of Adora never coming to rescue her on the Velvet Glove, deciding she could never change.

_Even if I wasn’t imprisoned on that ship, how would I have felt if she had decided she never wanted to let me back into her life? After everyone else had left me too._

“I don’t want to promise anything I can’t give, Amelia. But if you really feel you need her so badly... maybe we will be able to help?”

“Adora said you have something important to take care of.”

“Yes, and it _is_ important. But if we make it through, maybe I can help you.”

“I’m not sure if you’ll be able to do anything. She is surrounded by people who feed her delusions, egg on her anger towards me.”

“Like I said, Amelia, I’m not making any promises about what I can do. I’m just saying I’m willing to help. Besides, you saved Bow’s life. I think we owe you something.”

“Maybe,” said Amelia. Her voice was muted in volume and tone, but Catra could see some of the vigor returning to her. 

“I guess I should probably ask some questions,” said Catra. “So, what’s her name?”

“Victoria,” said Amelia. 

“And you two grew up together?”

“Yes. I was adopted. She was the real daughter. Always treated like it too.”

_Well, there is another thing I think I can relate too._

“And you two got along.”

“We… there were difficulties at times. She could be bullheaded, make bad decisions, fall back on me to solve whatever mess she had made without trying to change and learn from it. But, despite all that stuff she did, yes, I would say so.”

Catra, despite herself, found herself disliking this Victoria. She knew that she shouldn’t take every word of Amelia’s at face value, but she certainly sounded like a difficult person. Still, the fact that Amelia still wanted to reconnect with her meant there was something, despite all the grousing Amelia had made. 

There was more to tease out, but, especially since this conversation could be cut short at any minute, Catra figured she might as well cut to the chase.

“I guess I’m going to have to ask. What exactly did you do that ruined your relationship when you made it through all these other difficulties?”

Amelia squirmed at the question. Quite literally, twisting her figure and rubbing her legs along the ground like she wanted to burrow into it. 

“Amelia-”

“It was one time. One bad day, one bad moment. That’s it-”

**Boom.**

Amelia whipped her head as a thunderous sound reverberated in the cavern, Catra jumping into the air from her sitting position and landing on all fours, the hairs on her tail standing up to make it twice as thick across. 

Outside, there were no more loud sounds, but Catra could hear some hurried, shouted exchanges.

Catra began to edge to the flap on the tent when Glimmer appeared in front of her. 

“Catra, stay here,” she said. She vanished without another word. 

Catra stood in place, flustered, but feeling calmer. Glimmer had been curt, but most definitely not panicked. Catra had seen that before.

Another half minute or so passed, Amelia standing up and dusting herself off. “Any idea?” she asked, her voice hushed.

“I thought someone might have broken through the portal, but things seem pretty calm,” said Catra. _This definitely isn’t an attack by the Horde._

Glimmer appeared again inside the tent. “Catra, you’re going to come outside with me.”

“Is everything okay?” Catra asked.

“I wouldn’t say ‘okay,’ but we don’t appear to be in imminent danger of dying or being chipped, so I’m happy with it.”

“Should I come?” Amelia asked.

“Actually, you are very specifically supposed to stay in here,” said Glimmer. “We finally found Wrong Hordak, and he’ll be coming over to keep an eye on you.”

Amy opened her mouth to protest, but Glimmer quickly clarified, “Not that we think you’d come out anyway. It’s… mostly just to give him something to do. Anyway Catra, come on, no time to waste.”

Catra left the tent with Glimmer, Wrong Hordak rushing over to take her place. Before Wrong Hordak closed the tent flap behind himself, Catra took one last look at Amelia, standing in the shadows, her gaze pointed past Catra and Glimmer to where the rest of the Rebellion had gathered around the portal, whose barrier had collapsed. She seemed fixated on a single point, where Catra could see Adora. 

Catra felt that unease one last time as the flap went down after Wrong Hordak walked into the tent. For the first time, her unease was something more than a gut feeling. _What exactly did you do, Amelia?_

**The Regent of the Seven Skies**

Horde Prime’s little brother approached him in the cathedral at the heart of the Velvet Glove, blessed to come within his presence. Horde Prime sat in his throne, two clones by his side, the cavernous space as grand as he was. 

“Lord Prime, we have conducted our initial scan of Etheria.”

The little brother said no more. Not without prompting.

“And what did you find, little brother?” 

“As expected, we found that Etheria is rich in magic. We found that this magic has, however, been capped and harnessed by something located within the planet. No doubt this is the Heart of Etheria. All this information is consistent with prior scans and tests done on the planet.”

“Is that all then?” asked Horde Prime.

“No, Lord Prime. There is one unexpected thing which I wish to inform you of.”

Horde Prime didn’t like the choice of word there. “Inform” implied that Horde Prime was not already in possession of this information, shared in the mind of his clones. Still, it was a small slip-up, and did not appear to be a sign of wavering faith.

“Then tell me, Little Brother, what surprised you.”

“As you know, magic is a strange thing. It cannot easily be quantified using our normal methods. However, we are able to make estimates of the ambient magic found on Etheria, as it is taken and siphoned towards the Heart, but before it enters it. What we find strange, however, is that there are instances of dimensional torsion on the planet that do not seem to be linked to the Heart, or Etheria’s magic. In other words, the layers between our dimension and others appear to be weaker here.”

Horde Prime reclined in his throne, stroking his chin. “This would seem to be possible by several factors. Etheria’s return from Despondos. The opening of the portal that sent the message alerting me of Etheria’s former location. Those would both explain a degree of instability in Etheria’s dimensional state.”

“What surprises me is that none of our other instruments detected any of this previously.”

Horde Prime nodded, bowing his head. “Tell the observation team to continue monitoring the planet for dimensional torsion. That being said, if it does not interfere with the function of the Heart, or the stability of the planet, I do not believe it is a matter of importance.”

“Yes, Lord Prime,” said his little brother. “There is one more thing I wish to tell you. It is an observation of the planet, but it is unrelated to the scan. I will display it on your screen.”

Horde Prime granted his little brother permission. He turned his head around as the image was streamed to the screen behind his throne.

The image was of a silver woman, wreathed in wings, suspended in the air.

“She appeared out of the ocean a short while ago, Lord Prime. She flew into the upper atmosphere and stayed there, and has been observed by the blockade around the planet. She appears to be following an orbit around Etheria, although slowly. And, since you may ask, we do not believe that she is related to the dimensional torsion. It is weakest over the ocean.”

“I will ensure that the ships are alerted, and will have her kept within sight of their cannons. Thank you little brother. You may leave now in my service.”

The clone turned around, walking towards the exit of the room, Horde Prime’s eyes fixated on him for the entire length of his walk. There was no escaping his gaze. 

His clone left the room, leaving Horde Prime with his attendants. Prime stood from his throne. “The preparations for activating the Heart should begin with the utmost haste. However, now, I wish to head to the Hall of Memories. There is something which I wish to examine. One of you will come with me.”

...

The Hall of Memories was a smaller room, unadorned and dimly lit, its shaded interior and dark walls a contrast to the bright grandeur of the rest of the Velvet Glove. It was here that Horde Prime alone (and not for hundreds of years had a single other being entered this room) could access the full repository of information of the civilizations he had vanquished. 

Horde Prime accessed the terminal with a touch of his palm, lighting up a screen that accessed his library. He had considered a more convenient neural interface, but decided against it. It would not do to allow these records of lesser civilizations he had crushed to be accessed in such a direct manner to his mind.

The last time Prime had accessed this terminal, he had been searching for religious prophecies of civilizations. That had been in a previous body of his. Now, he could not remember why he had done so. He took a brief glance at a selection of the phrases displayed before him.

_And when the nine shield maidens sit upon the tribunal, so shall it have been achieved._

_The present, future and past, shall fall under his shadow._

_And the Eye shall see all brought under a domain of multitudinous fear._

With a swipe of his claw, Prime dispatched the phrases. They were not worth his time, although a notion tickled at the back of his mind. A humorous one, of himself as the one who fulfilled these prophecies. 

Horde Prime found the catalog he was searching for with a single tap on the main screen of the terminal. The First Ones’ directory of planets, maintained until their final downfall. He searched within it for a particular planet: Exalia. 

Now, he knew, that planet was gone, destroyed in a cataclysmic accident in the early days of his war with the First Ones. And, in the hazy recesses of memories from so early in his existence, he could recall the sight of a many-winged being rising over the battlefield. 

The First Ones’ records on Exalia were heavy on the planet’s strategic values as a central command in its sector, but spoke little of the planet itself. Its native inhabitants had been subjugated by a rogue admiral turned pirate lord, and therefore already cowed when it had been claimed by the First Ones’ empire, and the planet hadn’t been extracted for natural resources. The planet had also had no known magic. 

Faintly, Hordak could recall the natives, a humanoid race who wielded solid light as weapons.

Right at the end of the entry, Horde Prime found what had escaped his mind. Before he had landed there, Exalia had been abandoned by the First Ones. Already retreating from that sector of space, a rebellion among the natives had driven them off the planet. And, Horde Prime found interesting, they had reported that the natives had fought with powerful tools of destruction that they should not have possessed. However, there were no further details. 

It was that entry that filled in a gap in the recesses of his memory. Of giants as tall as mountains emerging from from the ranks of the natives. Of them summoning machines and elements with which to strike his Horde down. 

Horde Prime once again shut down the terminal with a press. He was frustrated, in a small way, with the lack of information in the entry. But it confirmed that something strange had happened on that planet even before he had tried to subjugate it.

He would not halt his attempts to access the Heart of Etheria, and he would give it his foremost attention, but this did merit investigation.

Horde Prime left the Hall of Memories, the door sealing behind him automatically. He turned to the clone waiting outside, the one who had once dared to call himself Hordak, in defiance of his will. “I will be accessing the memories of a previous body of mine,” said Horde Prime. “There is something which I need to witness.”

  
  



	6. Encounter

**Antares**

Victoria found that interrogating the soldiers opened doors to more questions, without closing in on any actual answers. Only a few of the men milling around the portal had actually gotten much of a look inside, before the storm of vines and ice had erupted from within it. Ehajmar, the man who had fired his weapon, was particularly cagey about the entire thing, but Chris had been able to pry his story from him. He had indeed fired on someone on the other side of the portal, taking them square in the stomach after they had aimed a weapon at him. He didn't mention it, but another man who had arrived before Ehajmar said that Amy had been there, telling them not to shoot.

None of the soldiers had gotten a good look at the people on the other side, but they agreed that they had been dressed in costumes, at least one white and gold. Unnecessarily, they also informed Victoria and Chris that those people had powers.

Chris was just about finishing up questioning one of the soldiers about the perimeter they had established around the portal. The soldier, who spoke English better than any of the others they had talked to, had been especially hostile to Victoria, but, like the other men, more amenable to Chris' antagonism... if still more than a _touch_ evasive and unforthcoming.

The soldier described how, at first, the men had fired their guns at the sealed portal before quickly coming to realize it was ineffective stalling as they debated whether or not to open the portal with explosives.

"And since we thought that might not be a good idea considering all of this," he said, spreading his arms to gesture at the Simurgh's left-behind tinker garbage, "-we haven't set it up yet. We're just keeping an eye out until we get orders. I take it, since you two are here, that we're not getting those orders from Amar."

"Well, that makes two astute observations," said Chris. "That and deciding not to blow up the Simurgh's playthings. Keep this up for now, I suppose."

Chris walked ungainly away from the soldier towards Victoria, his wings scraping along the ground.

"Do you recognize any of this Tinkertech?" Victoria asked, her gaze wandering to a half-buried device that looked like a metallic rib cage dripping blood from hairline cracks in its frame.

"A bit," said Chris, surprising Victoria by not adding any barbs or remarks to preface his answer. "Some of it looks like it got repurposed from my lab. Fucked it up, she did. You're not going to get much use out of it now. The rest of this is just junk I couldn't tell you anything about though."

Victoria turned her head another thirty degrees. There, right in her line of sight, was the largest piece of Tinkertech near the portal, resembling a refrigerator that reached nearly twenty feet in height.

"We know she had to have been gathering this stuff on a corner world, carrying it with her when she left her perch on the Kronos Titan," Victoria thought out loud. "After all, the Wardens stationed there saw here bring some with her when she left. But some of this stuff works, which means she was copying a Tinker design. Is all of this stuff just carefully prepared garbage, other than the portal and device Amy saw? Or is this really a diorama of perfectly functional devices ready to go off."

"Your oracle seems to think it's safe. That's probably a hint," said Chris.

"Where is she anyway?" he added.

"Give them time," Victoria murmured. She let her eyes wander to the ground by the fridge.

Victoria lifted herself from the ground, and gently floated herself to the large Tinkertech device, her forcefield up, keeping enough distance that it didn't touch the device. On the ground next to it, she could see the device Chris said had drawn Amy towards it, several pipes with wires running between them. Victoria reached out with her forcefield, grabbing the device gingerly in one of its many hands.

"I guess she likes something about the color gold," remarked Chris, elevating his voice loud enough she could hear him even at that distance. "Wonder where she picked up that taste."

 _Yeah_ , there was the Chris she knew.

Victoria once ignored what he said, instead flying higher into the air. From her vantage point on high, she could see a huddle of individuals standing outside the command tent crossing the red tape laid on the ground.

"They're coming!" she yelled to Chris as she brought herself down to the earth, still holding the Simurgh's Tinkertech at a safe distance.

"That should go well as long as Kid Cassandra doesn't feel the need to ask about every step on the way out," he said, shivering slightly as a chilly breeze blew past him.

Despite herself, Victoria smiled as the forcefield protected her from the cold.

Victoria descended above the ice-coated ground. She took one of the Wretch's free arms and smashed the frozen water with it, watching it shatter into pieces.

_That's a relief, at least. It appears to be normal ice, whose power doesn't make it tougher._

The vines and ice had been thoroughly mixed together, but she could see that the ice primarily pointed towards the portal with Gimel, while the vines had erupted facing towards Shin's capitol.

 _Looks like they attacked the portal from both sides,_ she thought.

Victoria felt as her forcefield began fidgeting with the golden web it held. Not threatening to crush it, simply fiddling with it, swinging it back and forth in a small arc, adjusting its grip in ways so small Victoria barely even noticed.

A bit of a shame it wasn't always so gentle.

_I don't feel too worried about letting you do your own thing girl, but why now?_

Victoria turned towards Chris, and she could see that he was eyeing the device, his eyes tracking the movements it took in the forcefields hands with quick flicks of his irises. She thought he might remark on it, yet once again he stayed silent, turning his head to avoid her gaze so he could stare into the distance, standing alone with his wings pulled tightly to his body.

It took a little while before the others arrived. Chevalier was at the head of the group, cannonblade in hand. Tattletale walked confidently alongside him. She was still dressed in her casual intern's outfit, but she now had a belt looped around her waist, with a handgun holstered. With it, Tattletale looked more at ease than before.

Sveta and Rain trailed, accompanied by a man from Shin she didn't recognize. With them were Miss Militia and Legend, who did not fly but walked, evidently still rendered powerless by Shin's drugs. It lessened the mystique, seeing a member of the Triumvirate who always seemed to command the air bound to the earth.

Behind them traveled Dinah, the cape she had brought with her walking alongside her. The two troopers seemed to have been left behind, along with the Wardens' interns, but instead she was accompanied by Megan and…

_Fucking why?_

"You brought Lookout?" she shouted incredulously.

Dinah shifted almost reflexively as though she planned to hide behind Megan for cover, before catching herself like she had earlier with Chevalier and standing straight. She stepped forward past Chevalier, planting herself with her arms folded over each other, bracing against the cold.

Dinah stood firm, but she looked so small in that moment, her figure shivering as she hugged herself, standing in front of Chevalier and his bulky armor.

"Antares, you agreed to trust me," she said.

"I did _not_ say that. I am willing to listen to you, but I am not going to follow everything you want without reason."

_And I am not going to endanger Kenzie around Amy and the Simurgh trash heap on nothing but your say-so._

"Victoria, I understand why you may be reluctant to bring Lookout to the field. But she is an important part of preventing untold suffering. And, frankly, I don't think you have any right to tell me off for making use of her abilities," said Dinah.

Antares felt like she had been slapped in the face, and she felt a powerful urge welling inside her to hit Dinah with the hardest wallop of her aura she could muster that took real self-control to keep down She checked to make sure that the Wretch wasn't gripping the web too tightly, staring at the girl in front of her.

Antares turned to Tattletale instead. The thinker frowned in sympathy before shaking her head.

She looked to Sveta, "Are we going to accept this?"

Sveta was sheepish, staring at the ground and shuffling her feet. "I don't think she should be out here either Antares. You were right: this sucks. But if she really is important in all of this, bringing her may be the right choice. With Dinah's powers, she might even be safer here. Like Dinah said, how often have we done that?"

Victoria looked at Rain, who gave a nod as Sveta spoke.

"See Antares?" said Dinah. "She agrees. This is for the best. And I assure you that I have every intention of keeping her the safest she can be."

Victoria still felt anger at Dinah, a feeling that Dinah was abusing her agreement. But Sveta's response was calming. Even if it was the same things Dinah argued, hearing them from her made them feel better.

She knew Sveta wouldn't throw away her friends' lives on a precog's say-so. But there was that uncertainty in the back of her mind; if they accepted Dinah's rationale for this, what wouldn't they accept it for?

Lookout gave her a wave. Victoria took the time to wave back.

_I'll keep you safe no matter what this girl says._

Victoria sighed _,_ "What are we doing next?".

"We're going to head through the portal," said Dinah. Based on the lack of response from the others, she could guess they had already been told.

"Amar was willing to explain what Chris told him about the portal opening," Chevalier provided. "Although, this seal might be an issue."

"The soldiers who arrived here found Amy on the other side of the portal with several powered individuals," Victoria reported. "Amy told them not to shoot, but one was trigger-happy and shot someone who was with her. Black male wearing some sort of costume. The portal was then sealed by these vines and ice."

Chevalier nodded. "Do we know if they're still there?".

"Oh, they're still there," said Tattletale. "Or, rather, there are still people on the other side."

Dinah nodded. "You will need to fire from that angle," she said, pointing to a spot right by Chris to the right of the portal, " -just outside the ice coating the ground."

Chevalier nodded, and strode over to the spot. Chris waited until Chevalier was nearly on top of him to move out of the way, hopping to give him only just enough room to lift his cannonblade until Chevalier pointedly told him to give him more space.

Chris lifted himself a short ways off the ground and flew over towards Shin's representative.

"Are we doing this right away?" Victoria asked Tattletale.

"Indeed," she said. "Kid Cassandra said we shouldn't waste any time at all. Hon, I won't let her go through with any bad ideas. That's a promise."

Victoria wanted to talk to Lookout, but she could see Chevalier preparing his weapon, and knew there would be no time now.

_She let me talk things out with Rain and Sveta earlier, even if it was for only a moment. Even if it's only to keep us line, hopefully she lets us talk soon. And if she doesn't, that might be a hint she is planning more than she is letting on._

She could see Chevalier gesturing, beckoning her towards him.

The soldiers near the portal were falling back. The representative from Shin taking command.

Chevalier lifted the cannonblade and fixed his gaze along the length. "Before I pull this trigger," he said to Victoria, "I want you to know that Shin's governments have agreed to let us investigate. According to Luis, the vote was narrow, but he won it. They will have one representative present, but otherwise the terms are very favorable to us."

He lowered his voice. "And, underneath the table, Luis called from a private location and said that if we need assistance 'in travel or espionage,' that we should call him."

"And are we going to take him up on that?"

"Hopefully not."

"He seemed sincere about it," said Tattletale, shrugging "More sincere than he did when talking about how he wished us the best."

Victoria gave decided not to remark on that, although Tattletale seemed to know what she was thinking, adding "Look, all I'm saying is that he isn't trying to fuck with us."

"Also," said Chevalier, "Miss Militia and Legend are still recovering. Their physicals are fine, but they won't be able to use their powers for a while, and their powers will take some time to reach full strength even after they come back. We can't say how long it will take, unfortunately."

"And, before you ask," said Tattletale, "yes, they are supposed to be coming despite that."

"I know you still can't read my mind. Couldn't do it then, can't do it now." Victoria said.

"Then learn to appreciate I'm just very good at figuring out what you're thinking."

"I'm ready," shouted Chevalier.

Victoria and Tattletale backed away from him, Chevalier waiting until they had given him ample space positioning his finger to pull the cannonblade's trigger.

"You can fire," shouted Dinah.

Chevalier pulled the trigger on the cannonblade.

As the ice came crashing down, snow began to fall from the sleet gray sky.

**Adora**

Adora didn't get to see the barrier around the portal break, but she _did_ hear the sound it made as it did so, and she saw a projectile slam into the cave wall, pushing a depression several feet into it.

Taking a second to groan to herself, she swiftly turned around. Everyone else did the same. She could hear Bow yelling "come on!" while Frosta whooped excitedly.

"Cluster together," ordered Shadow Weaver.

Adora watched as the barrier began to collapse and rushed to clump with the others, who listened to Shadow Weaver without a second thought despite the raging argument from mere seconds ago.

"Now Melog," said Shadow Weaver calmly.

Adora wondered for a second if the creature would listen to Shadow Weaver, but it seemed to understand that she was, in fact, right for once.

Adora blinked as Melog flashed with light. When her eyes reopened, everyone standing near Melog looked to her eyes to be made of bold white lines capturing the most basic visage of their features. To anyone Melog hadn't affected, Adora knew that they would all be invisible.

"Now stay quiet," said Shadow Weaver, unnecessarily. If it hadn't been for the fact that time was short, Adora would have chewed her out for the blatant violation of her own guideline.

Silence fell swiftly, and even Entrapta and Wrong Hordak, who had miraculously reappeared right in the thick of things after vanishing when the portal had appeared, contributed to it.

The ice barrier had fallen apart swiftly but, Adora noticed with a fevered sense of relief, the rubble still made entering the portal on foot difficult. Unless you could fly or were abnormally agile, getting through would be difficult.

As soon as Adora had finished that thought, the largest chunk of ice was pushed forward away from the portal. Far enough away that someone could walk through the portal into the cave.

Adora could see Shadow Weaver and Castaspella summoning diagrams at their hands. Carefully, she lifted her sword, thinking about what to change it into to best attack from afar, when she heard a voice shout from the portal.

"We are peaceful. We don't intend to harm any of you!"

A figure edged around the block of ice that had been pushed away from the portal. Adora's first thought, despite how much she knew great power could come in small packages, was that this girl did not look like she could have pushed something so large herself. The girl, whose dark-brown hair was cut short, wore a plain, white blindfold over her eyes and was dressed in a bland dress-suit.

"I know you're here," she said. "Please reveal yourselves. I have nothing but positive intentions."

Someone else came through the portal and around the ice. This girl seemed slightly older, edging into adulthood. Her hair was blonde, her eyes green, and unlike the first girl, she did not wear a blindfold, although her shirt and pants were similarly unadorned.

"I know you're right there," the second girl said, pointing straight towards Melog. The blind-folded girl whipped her head, not to where the blonde girl was pointing, but instead at her.

"Now, if you think that-"

"Kid Cassandra, listen to me. I know you know the odds, but you're making a muck of this at the moment."

The blonde girl turned her head so her eyes once again followed down her arm. "I understand that some idiot attacked you earlier, but Kid Cassandra here is right. We _really_ do want to just talk, and if you just come out, that will make things easier for the both of us."

Shadow Weaver shook her head, pointedly glaring at each person protected by Melog. She made sure to stare especially menacingly at Wrong Hordak.

Perfuma was the first to step out anyway.

Shadow Weaver screeched something horrible, but the invisibility was gone as quickly as it had been summoned. Shadow Weaver stared daggers at Melog and yelled for it to vanish them again, but it was too late.

"Hello there," said Perfuma. "I'm Perfuma. And you?"

"This is Kid Cassandra," said the blonde girl. "And you can call me Lisa."

'Kid Cassandra' looked ready to rocket to the ceiling of the cave, but Perfuma was already moving ahead with the introductions. "I apologize for some of the negative energy here. I think we're just a little on edge. This is Adora-"

Adora gripped the Sword of Protection. It wasn't that Perfuma's judgement call was a bad one per se, but she still wasn't going to entirely let her guard so quickly.

"Entrapta, Bow, Frosta, Netossa, Castaspella, Melog, Wrong Hordak and Shadow Weaver. And Glimmer was here a second ago…"

Glimmer appeared, and both of the strange women flinched, Kid Cassandra's frustrated expression slipping as her eyes widened.

"Oh, there she is. Yeah, she can teleport. Oh, and I can't forget Emily. Don't worry Entrapta. I didn't forget."

Adora took one satisfied glance at Shadow Weaver. The sorceress was waving her arms in frustration. Castaspella whispered to her,"Stop waving your arms like that before you blast someone."

"Hello," Adora said, giving a smile and casual wave she hoped wasn't too intimidating, when she stood nine feet tall.

"Are you Amelia's friends?" asked Perfuma.

"We know her well enough," Lisa said diplomatically, a contrast to her previously cavalier tone.. "There's a whole bunch of us right on the other side of this portal. If you don't mind, could we let them through?"

Adora stole a glance at Glimmer, who nodded.

"Do you want Amelia and Catra to come out and meet you?" asked Bow.

"I don't mind this Catra person coming out, but I think it's for the best to keep Amelia inside," said Lisa. "Just for now." she added with a foxy grin.

Adora was about to ask another question, but she was shoved aside by Wrong Hordak. The clone, who apologized for jostling Adora, was acosting Kid Cassandra within seconds, proselytizing about the lies of Horde Prime.

"Are you aware of his lies? Of his claims to divinity? Please tell me, so I may know if you need my guidance."

Kid Cassandra began to stammer something about not knowing about Horde Prime, which only encouraged Wrong Hordak further.  
"Then let me explain to you all of the untruths."

"Do you think we could get Wrong Hordak to keep an eye on Amelia instead of bothering our visitors?" Adora asked Glimmer.

"That sounds like a suitable task for him. Hopefully Amelia can take an earful though. I already told them to stay put, I'll go check on them again,"

"Hey, Wrong Hordak," said Adora, walking up to the clone and prying him away from Kid Cassandra with an apologetic smile and shrug. "Look, can you keep an eye on Amelia? Maybe make sure she isn't taken by spies of Horde Prime's? Catra is coming out of the tent, and we think you can keep an eye on Amelia just as well as she can."

"Of course, brother," said Wrong Hordak with bottomless enthusiasm. "I consider it an honor to protect anyone from Horde Prime's villainy."

With that taken care of, Adora approached Kid Cassandra. "Sorry about him Kid. He just switched sides, and he is a little overenthusiastic about it."

"Dinah," she said. "Call me Dinah. Please. Amelia isn't really in any danger of being kidnapped, is she?

"Okay Dinah. And don't worry. That's just an easy way to get Wrong Hordak on task."

Adora hadn't seen when the cue had been given, but it looked like whoever was on the other side of the portal had gotten the all-clear to head through. The first through was someone in white, black and gold armor, wielding a massive blade with which he pushed the ice further from the portal. He was followed by an assortment of others, most wearing outfits more expressive and colorful than those worn by Lisa and Kid… Dinah. As far as she could tell, all were human, except for one who looked like nothing she had ever seen before, a thin figure sporting leathery wings and a disc-shaped mouth ringed with teeth. One of them flew in the air, a strange relic of some sort levitating a short distance from her and Adora felt a wave of relief that they didn't appear hostile, imagining the flying girl gliding over the obstruction in front of the portal to attack the Rebellion while they were still stunned by the collapse of the seal.

Catra and Glimmer were arriving, and the former seemed taken aback by what she was seeing. She slipped over to Adora, leaning in her ear to ask "Are we just letting them in?"

"Well Catra, they sort of let themselves in. By shooting the barrier in front of the portal. The point is, they're friendly. Probably. If they're not I'll give them a good taste of She-ra. They just want to talk."

"I guess this is where I follow your endless ability to see the best in people, isn't it?" Catra asked, her voice tinged with resignation.

"A positive outlook on life is a good thing Catra. I'm happy to see you trying it out."

The party that had come through the portal had formed a rough line;Lisa, Dinah and the man in the shiny armor standing slightly ahead of the others. Lisa and Dinah seemed to be finishing an argument, although Dinah seemed more bothered than Lisa. After an interjection from the armored man, Lisa begrudgingly sauntered to a spot in the line beside the flying girl.

"Hello," said the armored man, projecting his voice expertly. "My name is Chevalier. There is a _lot_ of ground for us to cover here, but I'll try to explain who we are as best we can. We are representatives of the Wardens, an organization of the best heroes of our world."  
"First, I want to ask if you are all okay. I heard that one of you was shot in an irresponsible and dangerous action. Is he all right?"

"I'm fine," said Bow. "Amelia took charge right away. Patched me up good as new. The weapon didn't even damage my clothing."

"Amelia," said Chevalier, his voice growing heavier. "Where is she?"

"Oh, she's right in that tent in the back with Wrong Hordak watching her. She's fine, although I feel a little bad for keeping her in there right now."

Adora noticed Dinah steal a glare at Lisa as Bow spoke. Chevalier also gave her a glance, although she couldn't tell what expression he wore underneath his armor.

"Very well. I am glad everything turned out okay," Chevalier intoned, his voice laboriously measured and placid.

_I can't begin to figure it out, but there clearly is something going on there. I guess they didn't all quite get along with her._

"How did she behave?" asked the floating girl.

"Fine, I guess." said Bow. "She took everything in stride more than I would have expected. Look, I can tell you might have some sort of trouble with her, but she really did save me, and has been nothing but nice to us so far, so I hope you keep that in mind."

"Thank you for that explanation," Chevalier cut in. "We have had some... difficulty with her as of late, but we certainly do not object to her using her power to help others like you." Chevalier glanced at the flying armored girl, who simply crossed her arms."Now, I hope to address the most important matter at hand.

"Recently, we became aware of an approaching event, one that could destroy our worlds, and all others we know of. We expected that event to be fast approaching, but hours ago, our models detected something unexpected, something we didn't think possible. While that event still approaches, it is much further off.

"At the same time, a being we call the Simurgh attacked a world we are in contact with, one we call Earth Shin. She left behind a plethora of technology, including a portal to this place, before disappearing. Naturally, we believe these events are connected, and we want to find out how, if they are."

Chevalier placed his cannonblade on the ground, freeing his hands to point at the others along the line.

"With me, I have many of our greatest heroes. Legend and Miss Militia, on the left, are two of the most respected members of the Wardens. Next to them are Antares, Precipice and Tress, heroes from a team called Breakthrough, who were brought along for their… experience with the issues we face. With them is Lisa. You could say she is a consultant of ours.

"To my right, we have Stand-off, one of our heroes, and Lookout. Megan is a valuable staff member. Menaf is a representative of Shin, and he has decided to bring Chris Elman, who has worked closely with Shin, along with him."

"And I am Dinah Alcott," said Dinah. "I have come because I can see the way to preventing a coming catastrophe, one connected to this world and that portal."

Glimmer stepped forward without hesitation. "I am Queen Glimmer of Brightmoon. I am the leader of the Rebellion on this world."

"If I may," asked Chevalier, "what world is this?"

"Etheria," said Glimmer.

Glimmer introduced the Rebellion to the Wardens and other 'heroes', even as Bow had to hold back Entrapta from trying to rush the Wardens with a menagerie of diagnostic instruments. She also made sure to mention Swift Wind and Sea Hawk, patrolling the nearby woods.

"And, this is Adora, wielder of the legendary power of She-ra."

Adora noticed that not a single one of the 'heroes' responded to the mentions of She-ra, Glimmer being Queen of Brightmoon or anything else that she would normally have expected to draw a gasp, or at least a raised eyebrow.

_If they're lying about being from some other planet, they're really good at acting the part._

"These questions may be awkward," Chevalier spoke up, "but there are a few things I need to ask of you."

"Of course."

"Firstly, I see that some of you have physical features that I do not know of on our world. This may be an uncomfortable question, and I apologize, but I wish to ask if you were born with them."

"What features are you talking about?"

"Ah, for example, Catra's tail."

"Really?" said Catra, her face peppered with amusement. "I see Chris there, who looks like a deep sea creature bred with a Fright Bat and you're asking me about my tail? I will have you know that, yes, this is my tail. I was born with it."

"I've got a question." Chris lifted his head,. "Why do you all have such stupid names?"

It didn't take long for shouts of indignation to pour from every Etherian present, but they were matched in speed with a reverberant admonition from Chevalier.

"I'd like to apologize for him," said Antares, glaring down at the bat-thing. "He enjoys poking fun and we had to bring him along because Shin's representatives and Dinah said we had to. Right now, he doesn't have much to go on other than your appearances and names, so he's making the best he can with them. He likes to pry at vulnerabilities like that."

"You know," said Frosta, the objections to Chris dying down, "I always learned the importance of impressions. Adora, you remember the Princess Prom. My behavior was all about impressions. And the fact that Chris here decided to lead with this behavior means two things. Either he doesn't know how to make a good impression, or he wants people to hate him."

"Who taught you all this freshmen psychological bull?" droned Chris.

"If you must know, my advisor Iceon-"

Chris laughed hysterically, keeling over so his elongated snout almost reached the ground. "I'm sorry, but _Iceon_. And I thought Catra was bad."

"Like your names are good!" Frosta shouted. "What does Chris even mean?!" She asked, brandishing a fist coated in ice.

Chevalier cleared his throat. "Please, I beg of you. I apologize for Chris' horrid behavior. I know that he has been insulting, but I implore you to focus on matters of importance for the moment."

"I'm just happy they haven't shot at me yet," said Antares. "Some shouting is certainly better than people shooting at me if I do anything more than sit down silently."

Lisa and one of the other Wardens near Antares- Precipice, Adora thought- chuckled at that.

"Have you detected anything unusual?" asked Chevalier. "I know this is putting you on the spot, and that we can talk more of this out later, but I want to ask if you have experienced anything unusual recently, especially related to dimensional stability, if you have the technology for that."

"Ah, yes," intoned Shadow Weaver. "I do not wish to divulge all of the details, but the magic on our planet has been behaving oddly as of late. Each time I try to cast a spell, I find it weaker than it should be. Or rather, _did_ until a few minutes ago. I believe something was siphoning magic from the planet. And it only started mere hours ago. Me and Castaspella, my partner in our endeavors to understand this planet's magic, rushed back here as soon as we discovered it, of course."

"Magic, you say,"

"Magic," said Shadow Weaver. She held up her hands, summoning diagrams at them, shooting a small magical blast onto the ground. "I hope that I won't need to explain too much of this to you."

Before Chevalier could say anything, Entrapta bounced past her. She walked on her hair, holding a pad in her hand.

"You were right," she said to Chevalier, pulling herself to his height and holding the pad in front of him. "There is something strange about the dimensional stability here. It's subtle and I can't get a good reading on it, but it is there. I missed it earlier because my sensors weren't equipped to make the correct readings."

"Listen," said Glimmer, cutting off both Entrapta and Shadow Weaver. "I have no doubt that the catastrophe you face is real. And I really do want to help. But we're facing something of our own, and I don't know if we can afford to help. Our planet is being taken over by an alien warlord, and he is implanting chips in every Etherian he can capture so he can control them. He has taken many of our friends. And if we don't stop him, he won't only take over Etheria, but he could use it to threaten the whole universe. I want to help, but I don't want to promise more than I can give."

The heroes all stood in silence, saying nothing, not even Dinah or Chevalier. Adora saw Lisa glance at Antares. Antares met her eyes, and Lisa nodded.

"We could help, of course," offered Antares.

"Yes, Antares, you are correct," said Dinah. "Glimmer, I don't want to imply that we are here to do nothing other than seek your help. We will aid you, Queen Glimmer of Brightmoon. We will help you save your friends, and stop your world from being conquered. It will be the best for the both of us. Now, I think we have the basics down, but I think we could be due for some more detailed explanations. Let's get set up in a way that's more suitable for conversation and planning, shall we?"


	7. A Life Without Sorrow

**He Who Brings the Day and the Night**

Two minds that were also one joined in the hallowed halls of their conquest.

_ Horde Prime stood on the surface of Exalia, the light of the teleportation array fading within seconds. Waiting just in front of the dedicated landing pad was a clone, wearing the insignia of a First Captain.  _

_ “Lord Prime,” the clone said. His voice was even, but he bore an obvious impatience.  _

_ “You said that you wished to inform me of events here,” Horde Prime said. “You marked them as the highest priority in your communications.” _

_ “Yes, Lord Prime,” the captain answered. “If you wish to see why we are so concerned, please come with me.” _

_ Horde Prime walked brusquely through the camp, following the Captain. Hordes of soldiers — clones of himself — mingled with aliens of other races. He could see wounded soldiers carried on floating stretchers and quartermasters handing out batteries for laser weapons. The camp was a buzzing hive of activity, but there was a nervous energy permeating it, even as each soldier who saw and recognized him bowed down low.  _

_ The captain led Horde Prime to a command platform at the center of camp, a fortified enclosure with biometric scanners and mounted turrets protecting command infrastructure underneath a roof of Athamerite steel.  _

_ The captain stepped towards a console, a Nethennar technician jumping out of the way.  _

_ The sight of the technician reminded Horde Prime of his irritation at needing lesser beings for his war efforts. Nethennars in particular were invaluable with their vast memories, and he had not yet found a way to replace them. Eventually, though, he was sure he would. _

_ A few taps of the captain’s fingers on the console brought a hologram up, depicting a strange being. Long, thin and insectoid, its body pulsated. It had eight legs it walked on, and each step saw a bulge form at one of its joints and travel downwards. Each step was perfectly timed, with the bulge reaching the creature’s feet as they hit the ground, and a shockwave emanated with each footfall.  _

_ Horde Prime’s first thought was one mired in confusion. It was a strange creature, of that there was no doubt, but the urgency seemed disproportionate. But then he saw what the creature was walking amongst.  _

_ Buildings. The tall spires of a First Ones city, which didn’t reach a quarter of the way up its legs.  _

_ “That is a native,” said the captain.  _

_ “If there were native organisms like that, surely there would be some record.” _

_ “No, Lord Prime, an intelligent native.” _

_ “This is one of the strange powers they have manifested?” _

_ “In a way. Over the past week, local time, we have witnessed some of their number, individuals who possess these strange abilities, turn into these enormous creatures. Not just soldiers, but any member of the species. They appear feral, but they are still destroying our troops. Nothing short of our orbital weapons has been able to destroy them, and they are appearing in combat zones frequently enough that we can’t afford to take the losses needed to destroy them.” _

_ The captain pressed more buttons on the console, summoning recordings of the monsters emerging. From the ranks of natives — reptilian bipeds wielding weapons made of hard light — they grew without warning, reaching into the sky. The very tallest Horde Prime was shown was comparable in size to a mountain beside it. _

_ The RDTM software displayed auto-generated combat analysis alongside the images, but it was hardly necessary to emphasize the destructive power of these beings. _

_ It was, indeed, worthy of being called an emergency.  _

_ “I wanted you here to see this yourself,” said the captain. “I could have sent messages, but I want to impress on you how catastrophic this is. We’re losing troops faster than we can handle. Frankly, we are not going to be able to take the planet.” _

_ “Are you asking me for permission to retreat?” asked Horde Prime.  _

_ “Candidly, yes.” _

_ “I know that the First Ones’ primary military base had not been captured as of your last report captain. Is this still true?” _

_ “Yes, Lord Prime.” _

_ The base that had been manned by the First Ones’ military on the planet had stood even in the century since the planet had been abandoned, a local AI and automated defenses, including a large force of their robot spiders, discouraging the natives from taking it.  _

_ “I want one last push made for the base. I know that the First Ones stored valuable data there, and I intend to obtain it. Regardless of the outcome, your forces can retreat when the battle is over. We can consider our options then.” _

_ The captain stared into Horde Prime’s eyes, a flicker of hesitation overwhelmed by a roaring fire of devotion. “Even with targeted orbital attacks, the constant reappearance of these creatures from the native population will make reestablishing a ground presence impossible.” _

_ “I’m aware,” said Horde Prime.  _

_ … _

_ Ranks of the natives had surrounded the First Ones’ base as best they could, forming loose, fluid formations around the compound and its central spire. Most bore glowing staffs and shields they formed out of light with some innate ability that predated the empowerment that had forced the First Ones off the planet.  _

_ The ranks of the Horde descended upon them. Bots led the way, damaging the natives’ formations so the more numerous normal troops could flow through.  _

_ From his vantage on a hill removed from the fighting, where long-range lasers fired shots that plowed through the defenders and a teleportation pad had been set up for an emergency, Horde Prime watched the carnage through a mounted scope.  _

_ Many of the defenders summoned strange abilities. Some, he could see, were formidable. Many flew above the battlefield, and he watched as one dropped bombs that grew from their fingertips on a cluster of bots and clones. Another created wafer thin walls emanating from their position that perfectly sliced everything in their way as they extended, and then sped at speeds the scope’s diagnostic measured as just short of sound along the wall until it vanished.  _

_ They cost the Horde troops, but they were not enough. A small number of empowered natives seemed to resist any damage, but were spread too thin to stop the advance into the base. _

_ Horde Prime smiled.  _

_ It was then that Horde Prime saw a red glow appear beyond the base. It grew brighter, and he could see cracks cutting through the air from behind the base, reaching into the sky and branching, revealing images of red crystal. Horde Prime felt a moment of panic. Had some enemy come to destroy him? He now had the ability to escape into a body in cryosleep on his command ship via a dedicated relay, but the instinct of fear was a hard one to dispose of.  _

_ “What is happening?” he asked the captain.  _

_ “I don’t know,” the captain replied, his voice soft as he stared at the glow. _

_ Horde Prime redirected his gaze to the battlefield, staring through the scope for any hint of the glow’s source.. _

_ He saw a straggler from the natives who had survived. They stumbled on the ground, and Horde Prime could see a bot turn its attention towards them. He was about to look away when the ground shuddered.  _

_ The straggler, before his eyes could process what was happening, grew taller than the spire. Horde Prime removed his eyes from the scope, taking in the sight. The native’s body was visibly distorted, its form thin and angular, its torso a narrow rod, and its limbs formed of mesh. _

_ The being swept an arm into the spire as it turned its body. In its wake, the arm left a spindle of what looked like twisted metal floating in the air. As he watched, the spindle grew, the existing mesh growing denser as more material appeared to make it grow outwards. The mesh grew fast enough it met the spire in seconds, glowing white hot and sparking as it tore the structure into chunks. _

_ “You need to leave now, Lord Prime,” said the captain. His voice was shaking, the first time it had in Horde Prime’s presence.  _

_ For a second, Horde Prime considered opening his mouth to say he would stay and help. He banished those thoughts. _

_ Horde Prime stepped towards the teleportation pad, making sure he did not visibly rush or break his stride. He placed himself on the pad, and made sure to meet the captain’s eyes.  _

_ “ Captain, thank you for your service,” he said.  _

_ The captain nodded. “I am grateful to serve you,” _

_ As a Nethannar technician input the commands for his escape, Horde Prime lifted a handheld scope from his pocket for one last look at the massive beast near the spire. As he watched, a smaller figure appeared alongside it, just large enough he could only hazily make it out with the reduced zoom of the scope, wheeling itself lazily in the sky from the other side of the spire. It looked like a naked member of the native species, but with bladed wings growing out of its body everywhere, not only from near the shoulders, but from the legs, torso and even the head.  _

_ The last thing he saw before he reappeared on his ship was the winged being landing on the titanic creature.  _

_ Forty-five minutes later, Exalia was gone. The planet had imploded. Right as the red glow had appeared, sensors from the Horde’s fleet had detected dimensional fluctuations which had grown stronger with every passing second. The fleet had retreated from the planet once Horde Prime had returned from planetside. Even with their retreat, the explosion had rocked the fleet from millions of miles away.  _

_ Eventually, after a nervous wait, the fleet returned to where Exalia had been. Horde Prime had stood at the bridge imperiously, staring at the void of space.  _

Horde Prime detached his tendril from the module that connected him to his previous body. 

Visiting a body of his so ancient had been an unpleasant experience. His thoughts had been naive and weak and consorting among a Horde that so freely let lesser beings wander among its ranks felt like letting insects crawl unfettered on his skin. Even the manner in which he had let his clones address him should have been worth immediate reconditioning before it merited a lick of praise.

Still, the devastation he had witnessed was foremost on his mind. It would be premature to say this was the same phenomenon, but the dimensional torsion and the winged being made him feel nervous in a way he had not truly remembered until revisiting his memory. 

However, despite what he had seen, his goals had not changed. If Etheria really was nearing destruction, then his most urgent goal would stay the same. The Heart would need to be accessed as soon as possible. He would not let it be taken away. 

**Chris**

Chris’ form gave him excellent hearing. Sitting against a wall of the cave apart from everyone else, he listened. With slight adjustments of muscle inside his ears, he could change the focus of his hearing, filtering out sounds he wished to ignore, even allowing himself to center his hearing on only the very edge of his earshot. He moved his muscles infinitesimally, listening to each conversation with intense concentration for a short while before moving on to another. 

Chevalier and Dinah were huddled in discussion with Adora and Glimmer, Miss Militia and Legend occasionally interjecting. 

“Entrapta could probably exchange any information you wanted,” said Glimmer. 

“Technological compatibility-”

“Won’t be a problem in the slightest for her,” said Adora. 

There was a slight twitch in a muscle linked to the eardrum. 

Kenzie was showing Entrapta her technology under the watchful eye of Victoria. Based on her talk about connections to the optical nerve, she had probably pulled it out of her eye. The purple-haired freak seemed enamored with it. Kenzie wouldn’t let her touch it, but Chris could see her crouched to Kenzie’s height, staring at the rod as closely as she could, her nose an inch short of bumping into it. 

Despite the oddity of the situation, things appeared on their face to be calm. The Etherians and heroes mingled, and those who weren’t discussing the grim reality facing them were even smiling. 

But Chris could see the way things were on edge. The cave didn’t afford much privacy, and he could detect a guarded demeanor among everyone there. It was like they were walking on eggshells, afraid everyone else would see them for what they really were if they showed anything other than placid contentment, or businesslike stoicness. 

“Break it? I bet you couldn’t even scratch it,” said Kenzie. She was showing her technology to, ahem,  _ Catra,  _ now.

“I bet you I can at least scratch it,” said Catra in response. 

“Chevalier’s armor?” asked Victoria, at ease with the feline woman. “I’d like to see how much damage you could do. I actually would.” 

“Not right now,” she added after a pause. “Don’t tell them I said that.”

A few more muscles twitched near the drum, analogous to the tensor tympani, shutting off the sounds from that conversation. 

Chris listened for a second to Menaf. He and Standoff were communicating with Shin. Apparently the Mayor wanted to call Chevalier once he was available. 

Chris returned to Kenzie and Victoria. He didn’t quite know why he did; what they were doing was less important than other conversations he could listen to, but he was drawn to them. As much as Victoria riled a part of him, dredging up memories (memories of someone else) long repressed, he wanted to hear her voice. And that of Kenzie’s. And Rain, who he found most pleasant. 

“What you did was so cool, Victoria,” said Kenzie, her hands miming a two-handed whipping. “You used the crane’s hook like a bada- like the coolest person ever.”

Entrapta and Perfuma, who had shrunk the plants she had grown to block the portal back into their pots, looked with what Chris could only call wonder. They began to describe fighting Bots, and wondering how they could work together.

Some people were loved by others, as a natural matter of course. All but a select few would fawn over them. 

The gushing joy and enthusiasm Victoria received was too much for him. Chris shifted his hearing again. For the first time, he directed it to the ramshackle tent at the back of the cave.

There was a conversation in there. Well, less of a conversation and more Wrong Hordak running his mouth while Amy occasionally managed to squeak in a word edgewise.

Chris took a glance at Victoria, who was showing off her flight. 

Lifting himself to a standing position, Chris adjusted his hearing to normal and walked towards the tent. 

Miss Militia saw him. She pointed and said something he couldn’t make out. Dinah placed her hand on Miss Militia’s, pulling it down. Miss Militia glared at Dinah, but Dinah said something to her, and the cluster of leaders returned to their conversation.

Chris arrived at the tent and swept aside the flap. Inside, Amy was sitting on the floor, rather than the bedroll right next to it, staring disinterestedly at the ground. Wrong Hordak stood up, but the low ceiling of the tent made him hunch over to a degree that made Chris almost grudgingly impressed that he possessed the fortitude not to sit down. 

Amy’s eyes snapped upwards to meet Chris as soon as he entered. 

“You’re here,” she said. “I couldn’t clearly hear what was going on from over here, but I thought it might have been… Is Victoria here? I know I heard her. Or someone like her.”

Chris gave a look at Wrong Hordak, who had stopped talking as he had entered, staring at him slack jawed. 

“Could you give us a minute?” Chris asked.

“O. o . of course I would love to, brother, but I have been given strict orders to keep watch over Amelia.”

“You can trust me,” Chris said. “Me and Amelia know each other. You can rest assured that nothing will happen to her. Isn’t that right, Amelia?”

Amelia didn’t respond. 

_ Christ. _

“You won’t mind if I just fill you in on some updates and let you know what people have been up to. Luis. Amar. Victoria.”

The mention of Victoria seemed to energize Amy slightly, and she finally opened her mouth. “Yes, Chris and I know each other. You can wait outside.”

Chris was pleasantly surprised when Wrong Hordak sauntered out of the tent with nothing more than a cheery, “Farewell, brothers.”

“So Victoria  _ is _ here then.”

“She is, but that isn’t why I’m talking to you, Amy.”

“Can you tell me if she knows I am here?”

“Amy, listen to me.”

“Please just let me know!”

“Keep your voice down a little,” Chris growled. “When we’re done, okay. Then I can tell you about Victoria.”

Amy nodded dejectedly. 

“Luis has managed to paper over things for now. Shin is helping out Gimel, and despite one of their officers deciding to hatch a plot to keep the Wardens off his back, he was able to wrangle things back from the brink with Dinah’s help. Still, things are tenuous. You still have the usual suspects baying for blood, and the Coalition is split. It may seem all sunshine and rainbows now, but that’s going to be looming over our heads. If Shin feels that the Wardens are taking advantage of this situation to sideline them, there are going to be problems.”

“I’m not really interested in the political side of things,” moped Amy.

“Well, you’d better be,” said Chris. “Marquis and Hunter are still in the capitol, and our people have basically been cordoned off. Since we can’t deliver Shin the weapons they want anymore, we’re stuck in a nasty situation.”

“They said we’ve done so much for them,” said Amy. “They’re not going to abandon us. Are they really going to throw us into jail because an Endbringer smashed their lab?”

“You of all people should know these aren’t perfectly rational actors we’re dealing with.”

“What’s the point, Chris,” Amy snapped, standing up. “Do you want to do something about this?”

“It’s not much to go on,” admitted Chris, “but I overheard Adora and Glimmer talking about something called the Heart of Etheria. Not really sure what it does, but it’s some big powerful superweapon. And it’s in danger of getting used.”

“You want to give it to Shin?”

“Not exactly,” Chris said. “The Wardens would let a full-blown war break out before letting Shin grab it if it’s even a fraction as powerful as Adora and Glimmer say. But they might be willing to share stewardship. If Luis can keep the governments in hand, that will be acceptable to them. What we need to do is play a role in keeping the Heart out of this Horde Prime’s hands. If we want Shin to keep us, we need to be active in this. I can’t have you moping in a tent here, Amelia. I’ll vouch for you. I’ll find you a role if I can. Fortunately, you seem to be on the Etherians’ good side.”

Amy nodded, but Chris could already see that her attention had been unfocused as he had talked, and it now snapped into place. 

“Victoria.”

“If you want to know, yes, she’s here. Yes, she still hates you. No, you’re not getting within twenty feet of her.”

Amy shook her head. “I know she won’t let me yet. But Chris, I think I’ve found something that could change her mind.”

Chris’ mind roiled. After everything that had happened, she was as one-track as ever. Originally, he had assumed this would make her easier to lead around, but it was becoming increasingly clear it was nothing less than a problem.  _ I can’t even offer her a clone at this point, so I might as well stop with the carrot and take out the stick.  _

“Why do you care so much about the approval of someone who hates you?” he asked.

“It’s not hate,” Amy insisted. “I know she doesn’t love me, but if I just-”

“You’re always complaining about how unfair it is. How you shouldn’t be blamed. Well, she blames you anyway. She blames you with more venom than anyone else. You don’t want that. Everytime she says what she thinks of you, it hurts. It’s painful to you. But you want nothing more than to cuddle right up alongside her.”

“Chris, you know she wasn’t always like that.”

Chris shook his head with exasperation. “So you’re chasing the way she used to be, not how she is now. Is this really what you want to be, Amy? Some dumb bitch-”

“Now that is-”

“Some dumb bitch who who spends her entire life chasing, devotes every waking thought she doesn’t need for something else, to someone who genuinely thinks the world would be better with you gone?”

“So you’re saying it’s not worth it.”

“As of right now?  _ Yes _ , I hope it’s clear I fucking am. I’m sure we could sit down and both talk about how Victoria is a judgemental bitch all day, but apparently I’m the only person who thinks that is something I’d rather avoid. I’m worried about our fucking survival, but apparently you can’t think of anything but that fantasy! That’s what you’re  _ all _ like! Chasing after connections with people who either don’t give a shit, or who only think about you to judge. Why don’t all of you get a damn clue?”

He had, despite his admonition at Amy raising her voice earlier, shouted the last few sentences. Amy had gone silent, and she lowered herself to the floor again. 

“I need your head screwed on tight, Amy. If you care about what happens, let Victoria go, at least for now. After, well-”

“Fine,” Amy replied, eyes dark. “I just need some clarity. What you’re saying makes sense though.”

_ I’ll believe you understand what’s happening around you when you show it. _

Chris swept out of the tent, where Wrong Hordak stood with a look of shock on his face. He rushed into the tent with haste as soon as Chris had left.

_ He probably heard some of that, _ Chris thought.  _ At least he’s too much of a dullard to be a problem. _

Chris walked back towards his spot against the wall, but he saw that the huddles and conversations of earlier had stopped. The mood had changed somehow. More somber and tense, but also alert and energetic.

Everyone in the cave was standing in front of Dinah, Chevalier and Glimmer.

“Cryptid,” said Dinah. “I’m glad you’re back. We’re about to discuss our next steps.”

“So, we’ve got some plans for action?”

“Yes,” she said. “Several members of the Rebellion on Etheria have been taken by a powerful enemy and placed under his control. They have been planning rescue for some time. We are going to help them."

Chris glanced at Victoria, who floated inches above the ground, her attention rapt. 

_Old times_ Chris thought, watching her whisper into Sveta's ear. _Just like old times._

  
  
  



	8. Mindfulness

**The Warrior Monk**

“Scorpia seems to have remained in the Fright Zone. Obviously our surveillance is spotty at the moment, but we haven’t heard or seen anything from her since she travelled there. If we’re going to capture her, this is our best opportunity. I can’t imagine Horde Prime will let her stay there forever.”

“Fright Zone?” asked Chris. 

Victoria glared at Chris, who dismissively ignored her gaze. “I just want to make sure I have my geography right, that’s all.”

“Yes, Fright Zone,” said Bow. “It’s the Horde’s old headquarters.”

“Me, Catra and Scorpia grew up there,” added Adora. “It’s not a very nice place.”

“It’s been abandoned since Hordak was taken down, and all of the inhabitants have fled,” Bow continued. “There’s still shelter and some working technology there, so I could see it being a natural place for someone who isn’t scared of the Horde to lie low.”

“Scorpia really is the sentimental type, going home like that,” said Perfuma, wringing her hands nervously even as she smiled.

“This isn’t sentimentality,” said Catra, scratching Melog behind the ears. “No one is sentimental about the Fright Zone. Not even Hordak.”

Victoria saw Entrapta’s hair droop, limply falling to the ground.

“Always so negative,” retorted Perfuma, crossing her arms and huffing. 

“I don’t think it really matters one way or the other,” said Bow. “She’s in the Fright Zone, and we need to rescue her.”

“I’m ready to save her mind,” said Entrapta, her hair stiffening again as she stood up on two hair-leg things. 

“Abilities?” asked Miss Militia. “We didn’t discuss those much.”

“Shooting red lightning, basically,” said Adora. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t move as fast as normal lightning. Dodge and you’ll be fine.”

“That is easier said than done. She’s also an absolutely lethal hugger,” said Catra, making Sveta chuckle. “Don’t assume she can’t hurt you without firing a bolt. Her stinger can also paralyze anyone with a prick, and it’s fast. She is the nicest person I’ve ever met, and her fighting with all that kindness removed… is scary.”

“She saved me by holding off an entire lounge of people who were chipped,” added Perfuma. “Catra is - actually - right. She was strong and good-hearted, but now she is just strong.” Her voice wavered slightly, and swallowed a sob. 

“Do you know the whereabouts of the others?” asked Tattletale. 

“Not exactly,” said Bow. “Mermista disappeared into the ocean more or less as soon as she was chipped, and Spinnerella was last seen being beamed up onto one of Horde Prime’s ships. Micah is still in Mystacor.”

“If I may,” asked Dinah, tipping her head to Adora.

Adora nodded. 

“I believe you are quite likely to encounter Spinarella and Mermista in the Fright Zone if you head there to face Scorpia.”

“A trap then,” said Catra. 

“Possibly. Or a coincidence brought about by circumstance. If Horde Prime is as devoted to unlocking the potential of the Heart of Etheria as you claim, what better place to send his troops than somewhere he knows there is an unguarded Runestone?”

Dinah seemed more at ease than Victoria had seen her before, her nervous fidgeting from earlier and her desperate pleading from when she and Nieves had visited the Wardens replaced with an aura of calmness, undisturbed by the breezes of emotion around her. 

_We’re listening to her and she is happy with that. When she can move everyone like a chess piece, she’s content._

_She enjoys being cryptic as much as ever too._

“He needs She-ra to unlock the Heart,” said Catra. “He said so himself. Right, Glimmer?”

“I thought so too,” said Glimmer, her gaze lowered. “But, apparently there might be another way.”

“I hope that you all understand the urgency,” said Dinah, her blindfolded gaze lingering on Catra. 

Victoria was irritated at Dinah’s refusal to explain the particulars of Etheria, Runestones, Hearts and who-knew what else, even as her curiosity was piqued. 

_I’ll have to ask about it soon. Not right now, in this group. But I’m not keeping myself in the dark about this._

“Are the odds better if we send more people to rescue them?” asked Rain.

“I don’t think I need to use my power to give you an answer to that query,” said Dinah patronizingly.

Victoria patted Rain on the shoulder. “It’s an important question. You never know what a single ignored question could conceal unless you answer it, and I think that’s true for you Thinkers more than anyone.”

Dinah frowned. Tattletale grinned from cheek to cheek.

“So, why don’t you brief everyone on the threats these Princesses pose?” Miss Militia cut in. 

“I think I can take point on this,” said Netossa, grinning. She held a book open in one hand and a mechanical writing utensil in the other. “If we’re going to come up with an effective battle strategy, we will need to work as a team. And in order to work as a team, we’re going to need to have the best handle on each other we possibly can. We’ve only got a few hours, so I'll need everything quickly. I think I’m going to need each of your powers, described in great detail, and also your biggest weaknesses.”

Netossa turned to Tattletale. 

“Definitely not,” Tattletale growled.

“Oh come on, do you have crippling self-doubt? An unhealthy arrogance? Or just a weakness to fire?”

Victoria nodded along with each question.

“I am not going to tell you any of that,” snapped Tattletale, “and you can live without it.”

“Hey, is that a drawing of me?” asked Bow, peeking at the book from behind Netossa.

“Yes. A handy visual aid of your weakness. Snipping your bowstring, if you can’t tell.”

“Why do you have that on paper?”

“First, I’ll have you know that I have every one of your weaknesses written down, not just yours. And you should be thanking me right now,” said Netossa. “I’m the only one who has contingency plans set up for this moment.”

“If I might interject,” said Chevalier. Victoria swore she could hear him holding back a laugh, something she had never heard before. “I understand why some of us may be reluctant to divulge the full extent of our powers, especially our weaknesses. However, it is in our best interests to be sure we can work as a team. Our plan of attack relies on it. We should ensure we’re familiar with each other.”

“Of course,” said Tattletale, looking like she had been forcibly fed a rock. 

“You do seem to be the best prepared for this,” said Chevalier to Netossa. “I’m glad to have your help in formulating this plan.”

“I’m getting my wife back, and I’m going to show you why I always win,” said Netossa, clenching her fist. “I can’t wait.”

…

“I’m surprised they are being so loose with these secrets,” said Tattletale.

“You’re probably a part of the reason for that,” Victoria said, taking a sip of water from her thermos.

“The entire thing is a pretty big break from normal procedure,” said Tattletale. “Normally the Wardens would already have established a cordon around the portal and started biological analysis after establishing communication with the natives with dedicated specialists, but the portal being on Shin and Dinah bossing everyone around seems to have put that by the wayside. I’m not complaining.”

“I do wish they would explain more about this planet to us. They’re not exactly being _clear_ , even if they also aren’t hiding secrets.”

“I think I have about half of it figured out anyway,” said Tattletale. “Since Chevalier and Dinah seem aware of the futility of keeping things under wraps, I think you can get a pretty clear explanation from one of the Etherians without much pushback. I’d recommend Bow, by the way. Go pry his mind a little bit once we’re a little more dispersed.”

“Thanks. Some answers will be nice.”

Victoria looked at Tattletale, who was calmly adjusting her mask.

“Aren’t you worried about how long we might be stuck over here?”  
“I’d like to see the kids again, but I think Imp has it handled for now. Tactfully, Lookout being with us is probably on a good thing on that front. Assuming Dinah is truthful about keeping her off the front lines.”

“That’s a major assumption.”

“She seems honest to me. Well, honest about that. Shifty when taken as a whole.”  
“It’s still just one more thing to worry about.”

“I’m sure the Heartbroken could multiply that more than a few times if she weren’t here.”

“This is serious,” said Victoria. 

“I’m just saying that the distance might be good. We can keep Kenzie under our eye, around friends, without the powder kegs in arms’ reach.” 

Tattletale twisted open silver foil containing some crackers that Shin had shipped through the portal. Victoria suspected that Shin had gone out of its way to send the blandest and toughest food they could, but Tattletale bit down without hesitation.

“The entire reason the Wardens have me here after I was supposed to be benched is because Breakthrough and I know more about the Shardspace than anyone else, and they think there’s a connection here between the Simurgh and Teacher’s damn numbers. Maybe I’m thinking too much, but I’m not sure anything that could take us there again, or expose her to how it works, is good.”

“I think we’re somewhat far afield of that now, if it makes you feel better.”

“Ooh, better,” said Victoria with as little energy as possible. “This Heart of Etheria looming over our heads, complete with an alien planet inhabited by English-speaking humans who seem to have powers without Shards.”

“It won’t open up traumatic memories for Lookout though, which is what we are worried about.”

“Do you want more rocks for that glass house of yours?”

Tattletale’s brow furrowed, and she put a cracker in her mouth, chewing it with unnecessary vigor. 

“I think if anyone can handle being yanked from one thing to another, it’s us,” she said, ignoring Victoria’s jab.

“You can’t do that forever.”

“No, you can’t,” said Tattletale. “But we have to do it now. And you know it. You’re not going to stop when so much is hanging in the balance. That’s heroism for you. Your choice.”

“I can’t tell if you’re mocking me or not.”

“I don’t care how you see it. But you are a _damn_ hero.”

“I’d like to be able to take _that_ as a compliment.”

“We’re not friends, and I’m not here to make you feel good about yourself.” Tattletale smiled despite herself. “I’m on board with avoiding the most destructive spiral that comes from pushing yourself too hard. I’m just not going to decouple it from heroism.”

Victoria took another sip of water rather than respond, an awkward silence stretching momentarily. 

“I’m going to check on Lookout again.”

“Excellent. I can inconvenience Kid Cassandra.”

“Not that I mind, but you do seem to have it out for her.”

“You’ve learned enough about me for one day. Maybe that can come later.”

Victoria deposited her thermos on the ground, lifted herself gently from the floor of the cave and flew over to Kenzie, who was playing rock-paper-scissors with Adora. A holographic overlay projected from a small cube on the ground next to Kenzie placed lifelike images of the objects in front of their hands. 

Kenzie placed a rock as Adora formed a scissors with her pointer and middle fingers.

“You need to stop always playing scissors,” said Kenzie. “Oh, hi, Antares.”

She bounded over to Victoria, picking up the cube, which couldn’t have been larger than one of her thumbnails. 

“I just want to make sure you’re ready for this,” Victoria said, kneeling on the floor and brushing some dust off of Kenzie’s dress.

“Of course I am. Entrapta’s technology is a little odd, but once she showed the ropes, making the adjustments was easier than I would have thought. We have surveillance prepared. I can’t complain about having extra time to make some new friends.”

_I honestly wish I could be more happy about that._

_At least she didn’t have to be overworked for her contributions to be useful, even if she barely has had the opportunity to sleep._

“Working with Entrapta is a little strange,” Kenzie admitted. “Normally, when Tinkers are working on their technology, it’s like the rest of the world vanishes. She is sort of like that. She dives freely into data and technology, but she doesn’t have the same focus. But I was able to keep her on task.” Kenzie stood a little straighter and puffed up her chest. 

“Look at you,” said Victoria. “Hug?”

Excitedly, Kenzie wrapped her arms tight around Victoria. 

“Go enjoy yourself for a little while. While we have the time.”

Kenzie nodded, but turned around to see Adora occupied. Shadow Weaver, who had stayed silent as the plan to attack the Fright Zone had been laid out, was speaking with her. 

“You said it is fixed. If you and Castaspella can’t find anything unusual, I don’t care.”

“Adora, I can’t make you do what I want, but you are making a grave mistake.”

Adora tore her eyes from Shadow Weaver to see Kenzie watching her. “I’d rather get back to something more important,” she said. 

Shadow Weaver lifted her hand as though to grab Adora by the shoulder, but snapped it back to her side like a striking snake and stomped away in a huff. 

“Sorry about that,” Adora said. “Shadow Weaver still hasn’t gotten used to people being able to refuse anything she wants.”

“She isn’t coming along anyway, so I take it that’s one less issue to worry about,” said Victoria. “Does she normally butt heads like that on missions?”

“She doesn’t usually go on them. Actually the one time she did she was basically indispensable. But she has to have her way. Do you know how it is? I bet you know how it is.”

“Sure do,” said Victoria glumly as Kenzie and Adora threw down their hands. Two scissors. 

“Good luck, Lookout,” said Victoria, as Kenzie raised her hand for another match. 

Victoria flew over to where Chevalier was standing, nearer to the entrance to the cave. He was consulting with Legend, who looked diminutive next to Chevalier’s towering stature without his flight. 

“Antares, is there something I can help you with?” asked Chevalier.

Victoria gave Legend a look of polite concern. “I’m wondering about the effects of the drug. If Amar-”

“It shouldn’t be much longer, as long as Luis isn’t lying about the stuff Amar used,” said Legend, interrupting her. It was as uncharacteristic of him as his silence during the strategizing had been, but Victoria quieted herself without objection. Even if she weren’t on as thin ice with the Wardens as she was, she knew that being stripped of power must have felt even more devastating for someone as strong as him than it would have for most capes. “I won’t be near full strength in time for our trip to the Fright Zone, but I won’t be helpless either.”

“Miss Militia will be staying at a distance to coordinate our operations,” added Chevalier. 

A chilled breeze whipped through the air from the portal, and Legend shivered as it met him.

“I probably shouldn’t tell you,” said Legend, “but when we were talking with Queen Glimmer and this She-ra, she was opposed to letting you join the expedition. She seems to have taken Defiant’s side in this and wants you in a strictly advisory capacity.”

“And we’re not going through with that.”

“Of course not,” said Legend. He gave a sardonic smile. “Truthfully, I just wonder if she can’t quite be trusted to handle you Brockton Bay kids, much less the Undersiders.”

Victoria didn’t know how to respond to that, and decided to move the conversation along. “I actually came over here to ask about evacuation efforts and Contessa’s travel to Cheit.”

“We haven’t heard a word from Contessa,” said Chevalier, “although we do have utmost confidence she’s managing. Even once she has extracted Teacher, the Simurgh’s influence may make her leery about participating here, although she will no doubt be invaluable. The evacuation is continuing. Some of the most stubborn remaining citizens are being left to their own devices, but the longer timetable has been a godsend.”

“I’m happy to hear,” said Victoria. She considered asking about Damsel, but decided against it for the moment. Chevalier was cordial with her, and had listened to her ideas, but his attitude was still chilly enough that she could sense some disapproval. 

“I’ve just about finished the last adjustments,” Victoria heard Entrapta shout. The Princess was closing a hatch on the robot she called Emily. 

“I guess we’re getting ready to go,” said Legend.

Tattletale approached Victoria, her steps brisk and energetic. “Well, hero, I wonder what weird stuff we’re going to see next.”

“Are flying horses weird where you come from?” asked Bow, looking up from his techpad.

“Very,” responded Tattletale.

“Then you’re about to see some weird stuff very soon.”

**A Watchful Being**

The portal only opened momentarily, but it was sufficient for the bridge to collapse, the Simurgh pulling its center downwards into the River of Abraham.

The woman called Contessa, still malnourished and scrawny from captivity, guided by others where her gaze could not pierce, approached the river from one end, towards the vain palace of worship where the Benefactor waited in chains. 

As an obstacle, it was only an inconvenience for her. But it would delay her enough. She would not interfere on Etheria until it was too late. 

  
  



	9. Battle of the Fright Zone

**Horde Prime**

“In all his time on this planet, could he really never find a more impressive seat?” Horde Prime asked, examining his little brother’s pitiful throne, an industrial and ungainly muddy-green colored monstrosity whose back extended far above where his little brother’s head would have rested when he sat there. 

“The state of affairs here is indeed pitiful, Lord Prime,” said a clone.

“To think that he believed he would prove himself worthy to me with this unseemly machine of war, manned by a mongrel army. I am grateful that he has seen the tragedy of the meager scraps he presented as worthy accomplishments.”

Horde Prime knew the Princesses would be arriving to rescue their friend soon; Scorpia’s arrival at the Fright Zone had been made as visible — and destructive — as her powers allowed. Ruled by emotions as they were, the Etherians would be here soon. 

Horde Prime was glad to visit the Fright Zone in order to see the destruction of his enemies, but there was a small seed of nervousness planted in the back of his mind. The silver woman had continued her lazy drift around the planet, and while the dimensional fluctuations had not grown, that seed still was watered. He was glad to have brought as many clones as he had for protection, not that he felt they would be needed when the Princesses showed up. For all their powers, their timidity made them outmatched by his thralls. 

Horde Prime lifted a shard of the Sword of Protection from the hands of one of his clones. King Micah had collected it from the Rebellion’s camp, and Horde Prime would not deny it was of incredible value. Even with the time he had taken to examine his memories, he had easily been able to develop a way to bypass the Heart of Etheria’s primitive defenses, through study of it and the Black Garnet. 

_ I don’t need you anymore, She-ra, and for that I am truly grateful. To think that I allowed myself to believe that I  _ needed _ a lesser being such as yourself to deal with primitive technology. This will end here, and I finally will see my dominion become total. _

**She-ra**

“Spinnerella is maintaining a distance from Scorpia, but she’s staying within a relatively small radius,” Bow said. Scorpia has stayed in the storeroom”

“Fantastic. Can we please just go in there and finish this. I’m a little tired of waiting. I get that you might have the patience for this, but that is my wife there. I am not in a mood to wait around when we could just grab her,” said Netossa, throwing her hands in exasperation. 

“It shouldn’t be much longer,” said Bow. “There are two problems here. The first is that there is some sort of interference preventing the drones from viewing Hordak’s inner sanctum and throne room. The other is that we can’t find where Mermista is.”

“Do we even know that she is here? All we have is Number Girl’s word for it.” 

“You did see the odds she gave, right?” asked Bow. “It seems unlikely that we’d be that certain to encounter her unless she is hiding somewhere in the Fright Zone.”

“Assuming she isn’t making those numbers up.”

“She’s the only reason I know my dads are okay, Netossa.”

“Netossa…” Adora said sternly.

“Fine. I know she’s probably right, Adora, but this hurts, okay. And you know what it feels like. As in, you know  _ exactly _ what it feels like. Down to the part where they’re chipped by Horde Prime and currently inside the Horde’s headquarters.”

Tattletale — who was leaning over Bow’s pad — lifted her head and let her gaze wander over the Fright Zone, small searchlights piercing an uncertain darkness. 

“I see piping,” she said. Her gaze wandered to her left, where she pointed to the low body of water that had been the Horde’s primary reservoir. It was, Adora noticed with a wrinkled nose, extraordinarily filthy. 

_ We probably shouldn’t have dumped so much toxic waste into it,  _ she thought.  _ That’s probably why we had to replace the filters so much. _

“The Fright Zone does have extensive piping,” Adora said as a bubble of gas erupted to the surface near the shore of the reservoir, splattering muddy liquid into the air. 

“Are your drones equipped for underwater surveillance too?” Bow asked Emily, who was displaying a holographic image of Entrapta and Lookout. 

“Absolutely not,” said Entrapta, smiling broadly. “Submerging these things would almost certainly be catastrophic to their function. At least pollution won’t be an issue. I, uh, hope Mermista can purify the water around her so she doesn’t look like that Muck Princess from Adora’s old bedtime stories.”

“Muck Princess?” said Tattletale, giving a sly smile. 

“You won’t understand propagandistic Horde bedtime stories unless you grew up in the Horde,” muttered Adora. “I was terrified of Princesses. Me from three years ago thought Glimmer would have eaten me alive or something when she found me. You really needed to be there to understand it.”

“I’m sure the stories about the rainbow and unicorn Princesses were terrifying to you,” Tattletale dryly commented.

“Not being able to locate Mermista throws a wrench in our plans,” Bow interrupted, stroking his chin. “If we can’t do that, we’ll probably need to adjust our approach. Taking out Scorpia and Spinnerella quickly becomes imperative.”

“It seems that Horde Prime probably intended to lure us into attacking Scorpia, and would then have Spinnerella attack while distracted,” Antares observed. 

“It makes sense when you consider their powers,” added Legend, hovering a few feet above the ground. “Spinnerella is mobile while Scorpia is less so. Spinnerella can pull off an ambush while waiting from a substantially farther distance away.”

“She’s definitely evasive,” Bow agreed. “I think we’ll need to take her down first, after which we can pin down Scorpia.”

“It will be the opposite of what they’re expecting,” said Tattletale, wringing her hands with excitement. “We have an information advantage here, and there is no better way to unsettle an opponent than by ruining a carefully laid plan they’re unaware you know inside and out. There are certainly some people here who know that.”

Adora could hear an exasperated sigh from Dinah Alcott through Emily.

“We do have some mobility of our own,” said Tattletale. “I agree with Bow when he says we need to hit fast. And I think we have exactly what we need to do that.”

“Do try to not act too excited about beating my wife in a fight,” said Netossa. “Only I get to behave that way.”

“If you insist. But I can tell you’re  _ absolutely _ thrilled.”

“Yeah, I am. However, I am also extremely  _ impatient _ . If we’re going to change the plan, which, might I remind you, is a child born of the brain of yours truly, I want to hear it. But if this is going where I think it’s going, I’m intrigued.”

Tattletale began to speak. “It’s risky, and things won’t be easy if it comes to blows, but if this plays out right, we could pull off a clean victory.”

Adora took stock of her allies. Glimmer, Frosta, Netossa, Catra, Bow and Perfuma, from the Rebellion, and Chevalier, Antares, Precipice, Tattletale, Tress and Legend from Gimel, all listened with rapt attention.

_ This won’t be easy, but there are no friends I’d rather have by my side, with heroes willing to help.  _

**Antares**

_ One blow to the back of the neck. _

Glimmer gently placed her hand on Victoria’s shoulder. Victoria nodded.

“Ready to go.”

Glimmer nodded in kind.

Adora counted down.

Victoria saw the air in front of her shimmer a vivid pink. Everything else became fuzzy, fading and bleeding with the pink glow. It felt as though the teleportation, only a second or so, took longer.

Victoria held her confidence, thinking of entering the landscape of alien crystals.  _ I can handle some simple teleportation.  _

The world returned, pink fading.

Victoria was above Spinnerella, who was levitating on a cyclone of purple wind. Victoria summoned the Wretch, tilting herself downwards before it had even expanded. At the last second, Spinnerella idly lowered herself a small amount. One of the Wretch’s hands shot through the air where her neck had been, ruffling her hair. Her gaze rocketed upwards, and she twisted herself, narrowly avoiding a second blow from the Wretch aimed at her chip. 

_ Crap! _

Victoria quickly compensated, and another phantom arm grabbed the Princess’s right bicep as another snatched the wrist on her left arm. 

Victoria pushed Spinnerella towards the ground, her aura pulsing. Spinnerella smiled even as she was forced downwards, apparently unbothered. 

_ Does that chip make you resistant, or are you naturally like that? _

With a free arm of her forcefield, Victoria reached for Spinnerella’s left leg, but the Princess was already evading. She twisted herself as much as Victoria’s grasp would allow, unwittingly allowing her ankle to evade the Wretch’s grasp. The princess was a slippery foe. 

A strong wind buffeted Victoria as they reached the floor, nearly making her lose her grip. Spinnerella remained underneath her, fighting even though she could not break the forcefield’s grasp. The Princess planted her head firm on the ground, placing a hand protectively over her nape. Victoria began to have the Wretch roll the Princess over when she kicked out with both her legs. A sudden gust of air accompanied the kicks and took Victoria square in the chest. 

Unprepared, she was flung backwards, reorienting the Wretch as it popped back into existence. In a second, she pushed back, flying against the purple wind. She made headway, but her speed was dampened dramatically by the forceful blows of air. 

Spinnerella stood up. “I don’t know you,” she said in a voice without proper inflection. “Where did Glimmer find someone like you?”

She dodged a blast from Glimmer, who had teleported behind her.

“I  _ might _ try to take you alive to Lord Prime, but you do look like a challenging one. Either way, you won’t be escaping his clutches.”

Victoria could hear the unnatural zeal in her voice and see the uncanny robotic motions of her body almost as clearly as her perfectly green eyes. Not so different from some of Teacher’s thralls, drained of every feeling except for loyalty, but retaining intelligence. 

“Go to the others,” Victoria told Glimmer. “Tell them what happened and either bring Legend here or help me retreat!”

Glimmer vanished with a nod and Victoria turned her full attention to Spinerella.

_ People aren’t your puppets Horde Prime.  _ Victoria flew towards Spinnerella again, spinning the Wretch to counteract a vortex summoned around her.  _ You won’t win with this.  _

**The Faithful**

The being that had once been Scorpia was sensitive to vibrations on the ground. It was a part of how she saw the world, supplementary to her other senses. She had never discussed it, not in the least because it had never come up, even once she had made friends who would have cared, and listened to her talk about her experiences. 

Today, for the first time in as long as she could remember, she relied on those senses. She could feel the vibrations on the floor of the storeroom, weaker than they would have been on sand or soil, but unmistakable when they drew close enough. She could see nothing, but instinct took over. 

Her stinger narrowly failed to stab Catra, her metasoma brushing along her body. She did, with a second strike swift as the wind, paralyze the strange creature that accompanied her. A mammalian beast with a blue frill around its neck collapsed. 

Now visible, she could see Catra preparing to retreat. The Horde member that had once called itself Scorpia raised her claw when a rope wrapped around her. She-ra. 

Scorpia broke free, red blots of energy shattering the lasso. Standing among a few fading motes of pink, several people stood alongside She-ra, Princesses and others she did not recognize. 

For a moment, she opened her mouth a fraction of an inch to ask how they had met. A pain in her neck put an end to that, and she sealed her lips as securely as a vault door. 

Glowing red, she began to fight.

**She-ra**

“I guess it was too much to hope that something might go right for us, huh.”

“I’m okay with improvising, honestly,” said Netossa. She summoned a net in front of her, breaking a blast from Scorpia. 

Adora watched as Chevalier lifted his sword- the cannonblade, she remembered it being called- and swung it. As it swung, it grew longer. Adora saw a brief flash of surprise on Scorpia’s face as she realized it had grown long enough to hit her, just before the blade struck her flatly, sending her bowling over. She landed just short of a ruined Horde tank, sitting abandoned along the wall. 

Adora was grateful for the respite, but it was only brief. Scorpia was up almost immediately, fighting as though she hadn’t been battered. She grabbed the cannonblade in one claw, holding it in place, awkward in size as it was. She fired at Chevalier, the blasts making him stumble even as they dissipated on his armor. A net from Netossa afforded him more protection as he began to shorten the blade. 

Scorpia would have been able to hold her grasp on the blade, but she was interrupted by Frosta and Perfuma. Ice and vines grew in front of and around her, one vine binding Scorpia’s legs together only for her to break free with another surge of energy. Scorpia broke through the barrier erected in front of her as well. 

Without waiting to see how the others were prepared, Adora ran at her. She dodged underneath a blast of energy with grace, sword becoming a shield as Scorpia slammed down a claw. Adora kicked one of Scorpia’s knees, full force. 

Even as She-ra, the kick sent a sharp sensation of pain through her leg. Scorpia, if anything, seemed less bothered by it. Scorpia’s other claw came at Adora from the side and connected, flinging her away. 

Chevalier was pointing his cannonblade at Scorpia, who halted for a moment, before realizing he wouldn’t fire it. She smiled and raised her arms. Chevalier closed the gap between her in a sprint, swinging the blade like a bludgeon again. Scorpia lunged backwards clumsily before an arrow from Bow sprung a net around her. More vines appeared, reaching through the net to wrap around her claws and rope them shut. 

“Glimmer, now!” Chevalier shouted. 

Glimmer appeared beside the entangled Scorpia, then swung her raised battle staff towards Scorpia’s chip. Scorpia’s stinger stuck again, like a darting snake.

“Look out!” Adora yelled. 

Glimmer deflected the stinger, but her staff lost its momentum of its swing.

Scorpia surged with red energy again and her bonds broke. 

“She doesn’t stay down! We can’t trap her!” Precipice, his voice cracking with panic. 

_ It still seems like a mistake to have brought him here,  _ Adora thought,  _ especially since he isn’t cleared to use that ‘regret aura.’ _

“Like I said, she’s a real beast when she isn’t holding back,” shouted Catra, nimbly dodging a blast from Scorpia. 

“We can do it,” said Adora, making sure to inject her voice with confidence. “Glimmer almost had her!”

Bow fired an arrow between Scorpia and Catra, preventing the former from closing the gap. 

“I think we can pull it off if-”

The far wall of the storeroom exploded, water forming a shower that rained down upon them

Dripping wet, Mermista strode forth from the wreckage, examining the battlefield. Her left hand was gripping her wrist, where small pricks of blood welled from wounds. Then the water around her began to rise.

Adora’s shield caught a blast of water from Mermista, making her stumble backward from the impact. Only a second later, another wave caught her in her exposed legs, sending her tumbling to the ground. 

Frosta ran towards Mermista screaming, punching the floor with her fists. The puddle of water froze in the blink of an eye, the water Mermistsa had been controlling stilling like a living being turned to a statue in an instant. 

Perfuma lifted a flower from her hair and threw it to the ground, the roots reaching another puddle and sucking it dry in a second. 

“Remember?” she shouted, as she caught Adora glancing at the blossom as she pulled herself to her feet. “Roots!”

Mermista had toned down the early recklessness of her attack, keeping her water closer to herself as more of it was lost to the battle, working to replenish her reservoir with more water from the piping before Frosta could freeze it. Adora watched her blank green gaze sweep over the room. 

Lifting one arm, Mermista launched water towards Chevalier, hitting him with a ferocious blast. It didn’t affect his armor, but the fierce surprise blow made the knightly hero drop his cannonblade.

Adora again turned the Sword of Protection into a lasso to throw at Mermista, but she threw a jet of water into the air which met it, shoving it sideways. Netossa threw a net while Mermista was distracted, but she saw it coming and contemptuously threw water into the air, making the net tangle uselessly before dissipating. Scorpia turned from fighting Glimmer to fire at Netossa and Adora barely managed to tackle her friend out of the way.

“What can we do?!” asked Perfuma, desperately trying to harry Scorpia and Mermista with vines simultaneously. 

“I think we might have to fall back,” Adora shouted, ducking out of range of another of Mermista’s waves. “Not retreat, but just fall back long enough to get our bearings!”

There was a sound of scraping metal from the collapsed wall and Adora turned her head, remaining mindful of Mermista and Scorpia’s attacks, to see Tress crawling out of the burst piping inside the wall.

“Tress!” Precipice cried out with joy.

The ‘invisibility’ Precipice had gained from being on the sidelines ended with that shout and Scorpia fired a bolt of energy at him he only narrowly dodged, barely preventing himself from face planting with his power.

“I’m sorry,” said Tress. She was reforming herself into a humanoid body, the serrated blades of her body neatly zipping together. 

It was by no means a fair judgement, but it  _ did  _ unsettle Adora a bit. 

“I found her and almost had her, but she was getting away. I had to choose between taking off her hand and letting her go-”

“You made the right choice!” shouted Glimmer between two successive teleportations, avoiding Scorpia’s attacks while blasting her with her own magic. 

“Thanks,” said Tress, tiredly. “It seems things aren’t going well?”

“Not really,” Adora replied, blocking a wayward shot of water from Mermista. Frosta was doing well, weakening her reserves of water, but Mermista was a persistent fighter. 

“What do you need?,” asked Tress. “I’m ready to help.”

**Antares**

In the open air of the Fright Zone, Legend buffeted Spinnerella with lasers. Even accounting for Legend’s refusal to kill her, they were weaker than usual with his power still crippled, traveling at speeds slow enough for the Princess to evade at close range. However, they kept her on the backfoot, forcing her to keep attention on Legend to avoid being hit. Conversely, relying on the lasers to inconvenience her made closing in for a finishing blow difficult. 

Spinnerella was less maneuverable than Victoria, but she blew gusts of air with precision as she half-flew and half-ran near the ground, and Victoria found herself unable to close in. The Princess’s currents of air allowed her to keep enough space between them to prevent the Wretch from grappling her, and the force of the wind slowed Victoria just enough for the Princess to move out of the way each time. 

It was a tepid dance through the air, but Victoria could see Spinnerella growing impatient.

_ If we can just hold this up long enough for her to make a mistake… _

Victoria made another pass at Spinnerella, who lowered herself in the air to avoid a trio of lasers, buffeting Victoria with wind, making her fall back ( _ does it smell of raspberries, or it is just me? _ ). 

“She’s trying to make it to the storeroom,” Legend noted, firing a slow-moving grey laser ahead of Spinnerella before firing several faster ones directly at her, diverting her for a few seconds. “She must be trying to reach the other Princesses for protection, since she doesn’t think she can evade us forever.”

Victoria glanced his way. “Can you stop her?”.

“Not at this rate, not if I don’t want to hurt her too badly,” responded Legend, firing his lasers rhythmically. “I hate to do this, but you might have to go in and stop her. I’m not doing much more than wearing her down slowly.” He let out a small groan of frustration. “You can imagine how much I miss the full extent of my powers right now, even if the last time I used lasers for harmless riot control was hardly under the best of circumstances.”

“Right,” said Victoria. More quietly, she added, “I’ll try to get around her.”

Victoria pushed herself to full speed, rocketing herself in front of Spinnerella, pinning the Princess between herself and Legend. She had done this before, and the results had been the same each time, with Spinnerella riding her whirlwind to the side while evading Legend’s lasers and staying ahead of Victoria. 

This time, Victoria hung back rather than charge her. Instead, she lowered herself near to the ground, her forcefield grabbing debris.

Lifting herself up, Victoria examined Spinnerella, who moved in a strange zig-zag motion in three dimensions. 

_ I can’t hit her with the full force of my attacks, but if I can make her think she might be in danger… _

“I’m sick and tired of your bullshit!” Victoria yelled, channeling the same inner frustrations she had summoned for Shin’s goons in that strange abyss. She threw the debris she had gathered just to Spinnerella’s left. 

Spinnerella lifted herself on a spiral of her wind just to her right. 

Victoria flew right at her. 

Spinnerella blew a powerful gust directly at her, slowing Victoria down as the Wretch’s fingers brushed within an inch of her face, surprise flashing on her face. 

A laser from Legend finally struck Spinnerella, hitting her square in the shoulder. The Princess let out her first visible sign of pain and frustration, screaming. Without warning, she lifted herself high into the air once again, above the heads of Victoria and Legend, lasers flying around her. She leapt in a high arc from the tornado that had lifted her, landing a fair distance away. As she landed, the wind cushioning her fall, she immediately rushed into a nearby doorway. 

“She’s going to make it to the storeroom!” 

Victoria gritted her teeth. She and Legend flew in after her. 

**Netossa**

“Spinny!” Netossa shouted as her wife flew into the storeroom. Her moment of euphoria was tempered by the realization that Spinnerella’s presence probably only made things harder for everyone involved.

“Hello, Beloved,” Spinny said as she blew a gale of wind around her, pushing in all directions. Netossa was nearly knocked over by the wind and she saw Frosta tumble with the gust. Scorpia, who withstood the wind better than anyone other than Chevalier and Precipice, took advantage of the attack to inject her with paralytic venom. 

“Frosta!” Bow yelled.

Scorpia fired a ballast of energy at him. Bow danced out of the way, but she leapt towards him. Bow dodged again, but a gust from Spinny struck him and knocked him off-balance. Scorpia clubbed him with one of her claws as he stumbled and he flew towards the wall.

Netossa pulled herself from her daze and lifted her arm, throwing a net at Scorpia while she was distracted, only for a gust from Spinny to send it flying wide. Netossa could see Mermista readying a large wave to strike her. She prepared to evade, moving to place Scorpia between her and Mermista when the Princess of Salineas turned her gaze. 

Antares and Legend were flying in after Spinny, unharmed. Legend fired two volleys of lasers, one towards Mermista and another at her water. Mermista avoided the first volley, but the beams of the second pierced the water, throwing up steam as they evaporated it. 

Netossa watched Antares fly towards Spinny, debris floating near her in a loose circle thanks to that strange forcefield she had. 

“No !” Netossa shouted. “Antares, hold up! The plan has fallen apart with Spinnerella here. I’m going to save her, but I need you to take on Scorpia.”

Antares hesitated for a second, but wheeled away, focusing on the new threat. 

Spinny laughed. “You want me for yourself, don’t you, beloved?”

Netossa threw a net and Spinny evaded with ease, landing on the frame of the Horde tank. “If you really wanted to be together forever, you’d join me, not try to beat me. But I guess you  _ don’t  _ care all that much.” Spinnerella strode along the length of the tank’s primary gun, releasing gusts of wind into the battle. 

Netossa ran towards the tank, avoiding a stray shot from Scorpia, preparing to throw her nets.  _ Even when she’s chipped, I can tell she’s fatigued. Some of the signs in her posture are still there. If I don’t let up on her, I can win. _

A silver blade struck the side of the barrel, just ahead of Spinny’s feet, leaving a glowing line running vertically downwards. 

_ Precipice,  _ Netossa thought, remembering his abilities. 

Netossa lifted a piece of rubble from the ground beside her and hurled it with all her might at the underside of the barrel. 

There was a gasp from Spinny as the barrel split. She went down with it, too surprised to lift herself into the air, barely managing to break the fall. Her left leg smashed into the ground. 

_ Perfect. _

_ Sorry, Spinny.  _

Netossa threw a net with perfect aim. Spinny attempted to hobble out of the way, but this time she was not able to. She was trapped. 

Netossa ran up to Spinny, grabbing her and hugging tight. 

“I’m sorry if this hurts,” she said, before delivering a swift blow to the back of Spinny’s neck. 

**Antares**

Victoria grabbed Scorpia’s arm and slammed the claw shut with the Wretch’s grip. As soon as the forcefield’s limbs began to close around her, the Princess began to glow red. Victoria pulled herself away before her forcefield popped, avoiding a swipe from Scorpia’s other claw, and a follow up blast with aerial maneuvers. 

“Christ,” she muttered , landing on the ground a safe distance away. Relatively safe, when dealing with Blasters anyways.

“She really is nice when you get to know her,” said Perfuma.

“I’m sure she is,” Victoria said. “ I can assure you I won’t be prejudiced because of this. Right now, how do we beat her without hurting her too badly?”

Adora spoke up, pulling back from a duel with Scorpia to allow Glimmer to relieve her, “It’s like fighting a tank,” She paused. “Metaphorically. I’ve never had much difficulty fighting tanks. You?”

“No tanks,” Victoria remarked. “Mechs though.”

“Oh, neat.” Adora gave her a confident smile. “Well, I guess this is metaphorically your first tank fight. Congrats!”

Victoria just returned it with a tight smile of her own, not sure how to parse this mid-battle banter. Or how relatively at ease they were with the situation.

_ I probably should appreciate that they're not hostile. _

“We need to restrain her,” shouted Catra, avoiding a blast of water from Mermista. “We almost had her a while ago, even if we’re short Bow and Frosta now.”

Glimmer teleported, narrowly avoiding the sting of Scorpia’s tail. Scorpia lifted a claw to cover her nape as Glimmer teleported in behind her and let magic loose. Glimmer avoided another stab of Scorpia’s stinger and teleported away from further retaliation. 

Victoria lifted herself into the air as Scorpia turned her attention towards her, soaring over a blast of energy that struck the ground where she had been standing, scorching it black. 

Catra lept towards Scorpia, who turned to face her. Victoria took the moment to lower herself to Adora. 

“What if I lure Mermista away?” 

“We weren’t doing great before she showed up, but that would be helpful. We need to focus as much of our attention on Scorpia as we can.”

“Right,” said Victoria. “It might be a challenge to get her away, since the chipped Princesses seem to be focused on reinforcing each other.”

“That doesn’t mean they’ll let us wander around freely,” Adora noted, “they probably want to chip or kill you now, as much as they want us.” 

Victoria grimaced. “That they probably do.”

Glimmer appeared beside them. “I caught some of what you were saying. Remember the interference around Hordak’s inner sanctum and throne room? There might be something there. If you make it clear that you’re heading in that direction, she might follow you.”

“Good a shot as any- LOOK OUT!”

Adora shoved Victoria out of the way of the brunt of a blast of water from Mermista. 

Victoria flew to Adora, giving her a hand to her feet, “Are you okay?” 

“I can take quite a few hits,” she said, smiling while shaking her hand. “Next time I’ll let you take the hit I think.”

“To be fair, this is our first fight together.”

“And it won’t be the last.” Adora raised her voice to a holler as she stood up taller. “Now go to the throne room and make Horde Prime regret  _ ever  _ trying to pull this on us!”

Victoria flew out the door of the storeroom. It was only a few short turns to the exit and the open air. She glanced back and saw Mermista following her, riding a wave of frothing water. 

Victoria didn’t have the advantage of Kenzie’s HUD at the moment, but she had been shown the locations of Hordak’s throne room and sanctum as they had prepared for the attack, and had dedicated time to memorizing parts of the map. Stealing another glance backwards to ensure Mermista was still following, she flew away.

Victoria was careful to keep Mermista in sight, avoiding rising geysers of water by lifting herself higher in the air. Flying over the industrial ruins of the Fright Zone until she approached her target, she angled herself downwards, and flew cleanly into the building she knew contained the center of Hordak’s power. 

Water surged towards Victoria from above her, the pressure strong enough the Wretch shattered underneath it. Victoria changed her flight path to avoid the crush of water and narrowly shot herself past the descending wave. 

_ Forget about luring her away, I’m fighting for my life. _

_ Must be a day ending in “y.” _

A wave of water struck her, popping the Wretch again with its onslaught. More water surged even as the front that had struck the forcefield lost its momentum, and Victoria spiraled into the wall beside a pipe. She twisted again, avoiding a whip of water that crumpled the pipe like paper. The pipe then burst, more water spraying out and expanding Mermista’s strength. Water rose to meet Victoria, enveloping her just as the Wretch reformed.

_ I hope she can’t crush me with this. _

Victoria flew upwards, only to meet the ceiling. More piping lining the hallway burst, and Mermista summoned more water to her command, which surged towards Victoria. Victoria charged forward, unsure whether she was moving towards or away from Mermista, but the water kept pace with her. Victoria felt her lungs begin to complain, her brain screaming for oxygen, but she persisted.

The water swung unexpectedly, moving Victoria with it and she was smashed into the floor. Even insulated by the water, the forcefield shattered from the force, and more flooded around her. 

Black spots swam in Victoria’s eyes like small fish in the water.   
_No. No!_

Victoria caught Mermista’s green gaze watching her, muddled by the water. She turned in the other direction and sped away as the forcefield came back, holding her breath despite the scream of her lungs.

_ If I can just find an open space, I can win this. _

**She-ra**

“She really is holding up ten-on-one,” said Legend. 

He was buffeting Scorpia with lasers. The lasers, despite Legend not changing their properties on impact, were moving slightly faster than they had before and hit just a bit harder than against Spinnerella. Still, Scorpia - even with her bulk - was able to avoid most and tank the remainder with her carapace, returning enough fire that Legend had to swerve and evade. 

Adora grimaced as her shield deflected a blast. “It’s a little one-sided considering we’re not fighting to kill.”

“That’s not very comforting,” said Perfuma. 

“Again, we almost had her when Bow caught her with one of his trick arrows.”

“And he’s not in fighting shape right now and did you  _ see  _ what happened when Glimmer tried to fire one?”

“We have Netossa.”

“And we’re still not winning!” Perfuma shouted as she grew a vine so its path intercepted one of Scorpia’s blasts. 

Catra ran up to Adora. 

“We need a better plan,” she hissed, massaging a bruise on her arm. “Maybe Glimmer can manage to blind her while Chevalier hems her in on one side with his blade. That could give Netossa or you a better shot, especially if Perfuma uses her vines well.”

Catra was interrupted by more firing from Scorpia and she and Adora lept to avoid her attacks. Adora heard a scream from Perfuma.

“Perfuma!”

“It was only a glancing hit from some stray energy,” she replied, growing more vines to protect her. 

“You’re hurt-” Adora had let herself be distracted and only saw Scorpia’s attack just in time to block it with the Sword of Protection. Adora screamed as the sword flickered and narrowly lunged away to avoid another blast. Legend landed in between her and Scorpia, bombarding the Princess with a cascade low-energy lasers, and gave Adora enough respite to return to her bearings.

“We can’t hold out much longer,” said Catra. “Maybe we’ll get a lucky hit in, but at this rate, she is going to win through attrition. And… I can’t let that happen. Not just for our own sake, but for hers. And… I need to help save her. It’s the least I can do.”

Tress, unfolded, pulling herself together near Adora and Catra. 

“I might be able to hold her,” she said, her voice edged with stark nerves.

Adora looked at her incredulously, “You saw what happens to anything that grabs a hold of her, right?” 

“You’ve seen my body. It’s… it’s not exactly human to say the least. If I can grasp her with my extremities, but not immediately let go, that might be what we need.”

Adora turned her sword into a lasso, flinging it at Scorpia, who grabbed it midair and banished it with a red glow. 

Tress turned to Catra. “I’m not suicidal, I think it might be our best chance. If I can hold on for just a little while longer than your lasso or Netossa’s nets last…”

“Do it,” said Catra. At Adora’s stern look she added, “I don’t like self-sacrifice, Adora, but I also don’t want us all to die. Let’s trust her to do this.”

Adora glanced at Catra, and then at Tress, sighing. “Fine.”

Tress nodded. Adora signalled for Legend to halt his barrage. 

Catra ran towards Scorpia, claws drawn, and her opponent turned to meet her. She leaped towards Scorpia, filling her vision. Scorpia raised a claw… and found it closed shut. She looked down and her blank gaze saw the same had happened to her other claw. Her tail was held in place as well. Another tendril wrapped around her two legs and pulled them together, toppling her. 

Scorpia glowed red with energy and Adora heard Tress shriek. Despite the battle, Adora closed her eyes and winced at the scream.

She opened them again. Tress still held onto Scorpia, her face, for the first time in the battle showing an expression beyond one of mild surprise. Then Catra landed on her back and struck the chip embedded in her neck with a single stroke of her claws.

**Horde Prime**

“Accessing the Heart of Etheria will be trivially easy,” said Horde Prime, raising his arms as he spoke to his little brothers. “The First Ones imagined themselves as the purifiers of this universe and guarded that role as jealously as they could. Of course, as a lesser race, their best is no match for my intellect.”

The clones chanted reverently in response, their voices a choir of unyielding devotion. 

Horde Prime heard a crash outside of the entrance to the throne room. 

“Brothers,” he ordered. “Be ready to fire.”

Each clone complied, lifting their shoulder cannons at the doorway.

“Only fire on my command,” Horde Prime instructed as a scraping sound echoed down the hallway, “but do not hesitate should I do so.”

There were more sounds, indistinct crashes moving closer to the throne room.

A few more seconds, and a wave of water burst into the room with the ferocity of an orbital bombardment. 

Horde Prime was already planning to berate Mermista for such an unnecessarily theatrical entrance when he saw the figure fly high up towards the high ceiling of the throne room. Soaking wet and with one leg dragging limply behind her it was…  _ She-ra? _ No, not quite the same figure, but similar-looking enough. 

“What is happening?” he asked. 

“Lord Prime, she came here to attack you.”

Horde Prime glanced at the soaked woman. “Fire on her!”

The familiar sounds of laserfire began and he watched the flying figure retreat behind a buttress for cover, narrowly avoiding laser blasts with swift flight maneuvers. 

“What of the others?”

“Spinnerella was taken by the Rebellion. Scorpia is fighting them on her own as we speak.”

“Where did this strange flying individual come from, Dear Sister?”

“I know not, Lord Prime, but the Etherians are accompanied by several individuals with enhanced abilities. Not Princesses.”

Horde Prime entered Scorpia’s mind for a second. He saw serrated tendrils wrap around both her claws as she was pulled backwards to the ground.

_ It looks like that useless Princess needs help more urgently than I do.  _

“Return to her side and help her defeat them. We have this adversary well in hand.”

Mermista nodded. “Do be aware she has a shield of some sort. You will need to break it and follow up quickly with another hit to defeat her.”

With that, she surfed away on a wave of water.

“Now,” said Horde Prime, turning his attention to the buttress where the flying woman was still pinned. “I hope to end this as soon as possible. You may join the glorious collective or you may perish at my hand, but this foolhardy fight of yours will be over in but a moment.”

“You don’t look Etherian,” Horde Prime continued when no sound came from behind the buttress. “It really is a shame that you have let yourself be roped into their futile resistance to me. They are emotional creatures, so I can understand what makes them appealing to lesser beings.”

There was no response. Horde Prime ordered another salvo of fire from his clones, who struck the flying woman’s cover with lasers, spraying molten slag and rubble on impact.

_ At this rate, it may be most efficient to simply melt all the way through. _

“The denizens of Etheria, and other planets that I have blessed with the opportunity to join the collective of the Horde, are happy - no -  _ delighted  _ to have been brought into the light of my being. The opportunity to join my kingdom is a special one, to be exalted in service of a higher calling. My chosen siblings will serve, sheltered from the cleansing flame that will sweep through this universe.”

More silence. Horde Prime didn’t know how to interpret it.

“They truly do love me. Even if they had to be made to do so.”

There was the sound of an impact behind the buttress and Horde Prime saw shards of metal fall to the ground from behind it. 

“This is your last chance to be saved.”

The flying woman rocketed out of cover without a warning and some of his clones fired. 

But…something was flying from her, towards him.

It wasn’t until the metal - somehow fired by this woman - hit the observant clone who had leaped in front of Horde Prime as soon as she had left cover, that he realized what was happening. 

Metal shards tore through his clones like a barrage of ancient artillery. Two of whom dropped immediately, lifeless.

“Kill her!” shouted Horde Prime, pointing at the figure as he shoved the limp body of the clone who had protected him to the ground.

The woman flew downwards with remarkable speed. Soaking wet and with one leg twisted, her eyes were filled with fury. 

Her eyes met his own.

“ _ Fuck you! _ .” 

Horde Prime felt his frustration, in an instant, transmute into fear. 

A clone a few feet away from her screamed as something grabbed his head and lifted him off the ground, flinging him away at high speeds, bowling over another clone. Horde Pride screamed, “Shoot her!” 

Useless. The woman was among a crowd of clones now, dancing like the breeze as she tossed them aside and tore them apart like they were made of paper, a deadly whirlwind. 

Worse, Horde Prime realized that the woman was gathering the shards of the Sword of Protection around her in the air. 

Horde Prime barely registered the thought before the remains rocketed away from her. He felt one pierce his shoulder and he screamed in agony. 

_ Impudence! The last time anyone even dared to inflict such pain was so long ago, that I do not even remember. And with such a vile instrument! _

One clone’s laser was aimed squarely at the woman, but it struck something before reaching her. The laser weapon and the clone were dashed to pieces before the woman flew low to the ground, evading more clones as she approached Horde Prime.

_ Her shield. _

Horde Prime lashed out with his fist, but she flew above him with ease. She avoided a laser and flew towards the closest clone guard, who dropped to the ground screaming as his chest caved in, white armor shattering like plastic. She quickly turned around to strike the nape of a clone that was still gaping at where she had stood. 

_ Is that one defective? Warriors shouldn’t lose track of their enemy in such a stupid manner _ . 

It was only as the woman stopped, golden armor scuffed but undamaged, that Horde Prime realized that all his clones had been defeated.

The woman turned towards him, her face a mask with a gaze twisted in fury. 

Horde Prime tried to punch her, even his hair snaking out to strike at this strange warrior. The woman tilted her flight trajectory upwards, striking his face with what must have been her forcefield despite sailing over his head. Horde Prime stumbled backwards, tripping into Hordak’s throne, vision wavering, landing in a sitting position. 

Horde Prime searched for the woman, only to feel a force shove him downwards further into the seat like a stake hammered into the ground. She had struck him from directly above. She pivoted her body and landed in front of him, one force holding him by the throat while two others held his arms still on the throne’s armrests. Others shattered his legs to pieces. 

_ Pain! _

The woman was saying something. Interrogating or simply screaming fury, he did not know, his mind distracted by the alien sensation of pain shooting through him. 

Horde Prime left the body he occupied, and entered a clone on watch in the throne room of the Velvet Glove.

His feeling of relief was only equaled by his terror. 

  
  
  



	10. Rest

**She-Ra**

Healing anyone, even from the slightest injury, always made Adora feel cold for a second. It was as though she was standing in frigid air, buffeted by wind, and found her coat had yanked off. It was always an unpleasant sensation until her life energy restored itself a few seconds later. Then, once again protected from the chills of the air, the sight of a child now warm and protected always made those few seconds of discomfort worth it. 

Antares has been explicit with her request to not let Amelia heal her, raising her voice when the point had been pressed. So the shy freckled girl moved about healing injuries the others had sustained, while Adora worked solely on Antares.

“That should be everything,” Adora said, tapping Antares’ leg where Mermista had broken it. Antares gave no sign of pain and Adora smiled. “I left the scars you already had. I figured you wouldn’t want me to get rid of them. They make you look tough and cool.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Antares said, sounding genuinely happy.

She smiled, but her gaze was preoccupied by Amelia, who was healing Frosta. Antares’ eyes were like spotlights, always keeping the healer within her field of view no matter where she went. Gentle and kind as she could be from what Adora had seen, part of her was ever the warrior.

_And the muscles certainly are one such part,_ Adora thought approvingly. 

_I really do need to find out what happened between those two. Not at the moment, but as soon as we’ve defeated Horde Prime._

Frosta broke free from Amelia’s grasp as soon as the healer had finished her work on her. 

“Thank you,” the Princess hurriedly said before rushing her way to Antares.

“I was in and out of consciousness until just now,” Frosta spoke in a rush. “Did you really beat Horde Prime? I can’t believe it.”

“She didn’t beat Horde Prime,” Catra said. She was stroking Melog who, having recovered from Scorpia’s venom, was sticking even closer to her than usual. “He wouldn’t have conquered the known universe if he could be killed by a stroke of bad luck.”

“I don’t even get an answer and you’re already a killjoy Catra,” Frosta responded.

“I think perspective is important,” Glimmer said, watching Amelia heal Bow. “We didn’t defeat Horde Prime. But I’m not going to lie, if he was half as scared as you said he looked, I am happy about what you did.”

“He didn’t look scared at first,” Antares said. “When I first flew in there, he was confident, and took my presence in stride. Even after I started tearing through his clones, he seemed more frustrated than fearful. But when he was the last one standing, _then_ he was definitely terrified.”

“Did he try to convince you that he found you useful and that you could serve his empire?” Glimmer asked. 

“Sort of,” Antares replied. “He didn’t pretend he was going to do anything other than chip me, although he also seemed to think I should have been grateful for the opportunity.”

Glimmer glanced at Catra, smirking, “I think you of all people would enjoy this.”

Catra rubbed Melog behind the ears and sighed. “I guess I do. You did good Antares.”

“Man, we did _great_ ,” Frosta said, pumping her fist. 

Despite having been shifting between unconsciousness and a state of delirium only minutes ago, Adora half-expected the diminutive ( _make sure not to slip and use that term when she’s in earshot)_ Princess to erupt through the ceiling of the cave. 

“I’m finished,” Amelia said. 

She lifted her hands off of Bow, who sat up from the floor of the cave looking none the worse for the wear. 

“Excellent. There’s just one thing left for you to do,” Glimmer said. 

Amelia rubbed her hands together, her red tattoos making it look as though she were trying to cleanse them of blood. With a furtive glance at Victoria, who met it stone-faced, she gave a silent nod. 

In a corner of the cave, Scorpia and Spinnerella had been laid on comfortable bedrolls, face down. Miss Militia and Chevalier stood over them, while Entrapta examined Scorpia’s neck with a handheld microscope. Adora travelled with Glimmer, Amelia and Catra to them. 

Adora caught Miss Militia saying something to Chevalier before hushing, catching something about ‘Adam’ and ‘the earth’. 

“Sorry to run just as you arrive, but there is something I need to handle with our friends from Shin,” Chevalier said. “I am excited to have these two awake though,” he added as he headed towards the portal, where Menaf had set up a small communications post. 

“Amelia, I’m glad you’re here,” Entrapta said. “It appears that the chips in these Princesses have integrated remarkably well with their nervous systems, especially Spinnerella’s. It’s a truly ingenious device. I’ve only removed one of these before, and it wasn’t nearly as well incorporated. I’d love to work on these two a little more, but Castaspella suggested choosing a safer and less painful method for the patients. Do you think you can do it, Amelia?”

“All in a day’s work,” Amelia said, once again ringing her hands. “I’m just happy to be appreciated for what I’m doing. Not everyone is so kind.”

_Why?_ Adora thought. _Who doesn’t appreciate such a power healing them?_

“Okay Entrapta, give her some space.” Glimmer said. 

Entrapta prodded at Spinnerella’s chip one last time, but reluctantly pulled herself away, her hair dragging crestfallen on the ground. Amelia kneeled down on the floor and, without so much as a deep breath to prepare, placed her hand on Scorpia’s neck.

“This is unique,” Amelia said, running her fingers along the length of Scorpia’s neck and onto her cheek. “I can sever the artificial neurons of the chip, but that will leave some of its axons behind. They should be harmless and eventually naturally be disposed of via the lymphatic system, but it would be best if I periodically monitored it.”

Amelia lifted her hands and held them in front of her, admiring them like a work of art.

She placed her hand down again, this time on Spinnerella. A few seconds later, she removed them. 

“That is it,” she said. “Entrapta, you should have no trouble removing the chips now. They will be awake soon.”

Adora stared at the figures of the two Princesses as Entrapta used a pair of tweezers to extract the chips, which she rushed to appropriately marked containers. 

“Do you know what I’m thinking?” Adora asked Glimmer and Catra. 

“Am I supposed to be able to read your mind?” Catra asked. 

“Out of all the people in the world, I’d expect you to come the closest,” Adora said. “When Scorpia and Spinnerella wake up, we’re going to have a lot to explain to them. And frankly, I want a little something more than that. We’ve explained our abilities to each other and filled each other in on the particularities of our world, but what we haven’t done is something fun as a group. We’ve sat around a bit and gotten to talk and play that game called ‘Rock Paper Scissors’…”

“Which you still don’t seem to quite get,”

“Not the point Catra. What I’m saying is that we haven’t gotten to do proper bonding.”

Catra stared at Adora, realization dawning on her face. Her fur stood upright like soldiers at attention, her tail bristling and eyes widening.

“We’re going to have a proper event where we get to have fun and learn some more about each other.”

Catra sputtered and Adora knew she was looking for an excuse. 

“We’re fighting against an all-powerful alien.”

“And Dinah said we should sit tight until Cryptid and Swift Wind are back. Come on Catra. You know fun is in fact allowed here.”

“I’ll admit I have reservations about this,” Miss Militia said. 

“See, she has reservations about it,” Catra said, gesturing at the hero. 

“Let me put it this way; you’re opening up. I know you can do it. You did it earlier. You don’t need to lay bare your deepest secrets, but is showing some vulnerability that bad?”

Miss Militia sighed. “This situation is incredibly volatile and delicate. This simply doesn’t sit right with me.”

“We have a human calculator on hand. We don’t need to worry about this being a risk.” Adora said

“We are undergoing a joint operation against a hostile force. With stakes such as these frivolity is not something I can endorse.”

“Do you have something you wish for us to do?” Glimmer asked. “If you don’t, we’re not doing anything until Cryptid returns and Dinah tells us how to proceed. This isn’t interfering with anything. If Dinah doesn’t veto it, can you say it’s the wrong thing to do?”

Miss Militia shook her head. “If this lowers the odds by a fraction of a percent, don’t continue with it.” 

“Glad to have you on board,” Adora said, deciding to ignore the discouraging remarks. She turned to Catra and Glimmer “Assuming Dinah says yes, here’s what I have in mind.”

  


**The Boogeyman**

The shadow called Aasdier died pitifully. Reduced to the size of a wolfhound, it still futilely flew through the air. Contessa easily evaded its smoky body even in her weakened state, as the crocodilian skull’s trail of shadow vanished piece by piece. Each step, perfectly placed, made her body scream. She ran a path to ignoring the pain until Aasdier was dead. She always tried to remain cognizant of the limits of her body, lest she run herself ragged, but now was the time to, for just a short while, ignore those until her task was completed. 

She was tired to her very bones, yet she made no mistake. She danced past the swirling body of her foe, brushing past but never touching, battering the skull so it was forced to face her rather than her companions. 

Holod clapped her hands and Aasdier shrunk again. The shadow was dissipating swiftly already, and the cape’s assault only accelerated its demise. With each clap, Holod afflicted physical deterioration on a chosen target. Normally, Aasdier would have resisted more than a single clap, but in its weakened state, it could do nothing other than vainly try to escape the inevitable. 

Following another clap, Contessa was able to firmly grab Aasdier’s skull in her own hands, the trail of shadow stretching behind it not even a foot in length. She pulled the skull from the shadow. 

Holod clapped again, and Aasdier was reduced to the size of a mouse. Stripped of power, Contessa banished it with a wave of her hand, the being that had terrorized southern Africa disappearing like the last smog of a dying fire. 

Contessa stepped over Moord Nag’s body, which looked up at the ceiling with an unseeing gaze, a bullethole squarely between her eyes. 

Contessa finally could safely lay eyes on her target. 

Teacher was still cuffed and the fight seemed drained from him. He tried as best he could to appear regal in captivity despite being a balding, overweight man, but he was defeated. 

Contessa was not to interrogate him before returning to the old Cauldron base, but now, with the last of his defenses spent, she still felt a thrill, an emotional burst of energy that reinvigorated her drained body. 

“Our allies have taken control of the area surrounding the cathedral,” Contessa told her team. “Teacher’s allies have stationed some of their men at the portal connecting Cheit to Gimel in an attempt to confiscate Teacher on our return, but that will be unable to do more than momentarily inconvenience us.”

Contessa did not mention the civil war that would erupt once they crossed dimensions. Doing so would give a few of her capes cold feet. She could easily assuage their concerns, but had no desire to do so. Teacher would press the fact, adding a needless complication to his extraction. 

Still, what she had said felt incomplete. Her team were people who had put themselves at risk to lead her to Teacher, guide her past his traps and face fearsome foes.

_Path to improving morale._

“You all did exceptionally,” Contessa said, smiling slightly as the Path dictated. “And not just us. The brave thralls who imprisoned Teacher when freed from his clutches will all receive lesser canonization from the government of Cheit. Thanks to the efforts of everyone, we have finally defeated the greatest threat since Scion.”

Contessa’s team was made of veteran capes, hardly the sort for celebration in the field, but they did feel elevated by her remarks. Holod even clapped, without using her power this time. 

“It must be devastating, to see the world slip through your fingers once again,” Contessa said to Teacher, as she and her team escorted him from the cathedral. 

“I feel anger only at how you let your sentimentality puppet you into allowing humanity to die.”

Teacher was lying. Contessa knew it and Teacher was aware she did. She allowed him the comfort of voicing how he claimed he had fought for humanity. The reality of how and _who_ had defeated him would degrade him over time, as he grew more distant from his resources, imprisoned without an ounce of control. 

There were so many questions Contessa wished to ask Teacher, but she remained resolute. Not running a Path to the answers tested her patience, yet she _would_ hold firm to the promise she had made. 

“We should contact the mayor once we reach the government bureau,” Nightshade said. “I think it would be good protocol to contact her sooner rather than later.”

Contessa ran a Path, determining that contacting Wynn would not inhibit their escape. 

“An excellent suggestion.”

It felt strange to take a recommendation from a teammate like that. Instructions from the mayor were easy for her to adapt to, reminiscent of Doctor Mother, whose grand design Contessa had executed. Listening to other capes as near-equals was... strange. 

The destruction of the Bridge of Abraham — which Teacher’s countermeasures to her power must have allowed him to execute without her knowledge — had necessitated taking a roundabout route to the cathedral, along which they had been hounded by security forces loyal to Teacher, costing them hours. However, his former thralls had managed to defend their position with the Tinkertech they had built under his control, fighting with anger only the truly wronged possessed. 

The walk was difficult for Contessa and her legs wavered with each step. She ran a Path to keep herself moving forward, but remained aware of her pain. 

The other capes evidently noticed her struggles and they gradually slowed the speed of their walk, keeping pace with Contessa even as her speed declined. 

As Contessa’s breaths grew more ragged, her steps more unsteady, Holod approached. 

“Do you want help?” she asked.

Contessa didn’t speak, unsure of how to respond. She was tempted to use her power to ignore her pain until returning to the vehicles. Surely there would be no harm in holding out that much longer after the hours she had spent on her feet. 

“Come on. You’re clearly hurting. I can only imagine how difficult this mission was for you in your condition.”

Holod lifted Contessa’s hand and placed it over her shoulder. Nightshade saw and did the same for Contessa’s other side. Together, they supported her the rest of the way. 

  


**Horde Prime**

Horde Prime slithered from the mind of the vessel that had once been Princess Mermista, his instructions to abandon the Fright Zone conveyed through her own voice. 

Returning to the clone inside his throne room, he breathed-in deeply. Hormones stimulating panic coursed through his veins. In a calmer state, he might have indulged in the heightened awareness, but he was still terrified. 

Terror. An emotion almost alien to him. As he stood in place, the realization that he would be without a suitable body for some time dawning on him, he recalled that same feeling. He had not experienced it in a manner anywhere near as stark as when he had fled the Fright Zone, but he had felt it only recently. 

In a memory.

Horde Prime summoned several of his little brothers to his throne room. They hid it well, underneath poise and deference, but he could sense the shock and disbelief that blossomed within them as he reluctantly admitted that he had lost his body. 

He refused to describe the incident in detail. 

One of the clones he had summoned was the clone monitoring the planet’s energy. Horde Prime addressed him directly.

“You said that the dimensional fluctuations observed on the planet vary in strength, being weakest over the ocean,” Horde Prime said to the clone. 

“Yes, Lord Prime.”

The clone tapped on his armband, streaming the data to Horde Prime’s screen. 

“As I said Lord Prime, the fluctuations vary, being strongest in the regions formerly occupied by the Princesses and my wayward sibling’s pitiful semblance of our empire.”

“I want you to average the fluctuations you have monitored and present the strength of the dimensional torsion in all locations on Etheria based on that average.”

The clone executed a program, and, after a minute of processing, Horde Prime’s screen depicted an unwrapped map of Etheria. 

“It appears that the torsion is strongest in a particular region of the Whispering Woods,” Horde Prime said. He lifted his hand to chin and stroked, finding it didn’t feel right without the armor he wore on his pointer finger rubbing along his skin. 

“It would appear so, Lord Prime.”

Horde Prime smiled. It was so clear. The strange individuals who had given him trouble in the Fright Zone had abilities unconnected to Etherian magic, the same as the natives of Exalia. They appeared alongside an unclothed being from which wings grew like branches, the same as he had seen on Exalia. 

On Exalia, the destruction of the planet by the titans born of the natives had been accompanied by dimensional fluctuations of every sort, spreading from the locations of those strange powered individuals. 

It was clear as a plane of glass; he knew where to find his enemies. 

“Little brothers,” Horde Prime said. “It is clear that our plans for Etheria will need to be altered slightly. There is a troublesome group on this planet, and they must be eliminated. Fortunately, doing so will be easy. I have determined their location. We will scour this region of the Whispering Woods, where I know we can cripple them. We will strike with our full strength, and remind them why I rule this universe!”

The eyes of his little brothers glowed with reverence that had been dimmed mere seconds ago, their faith restored with confidence in victory.

“For now, I will devote my attention to finishing the Ferrum Arterial. I will complete the design in enough time to oversee the destruction of this resistance personally.”

_Hopefully, this will allow us to eliminate the Princesses as well._

Horde Prime ordered his clones to disperse and prepare his troops for attack. 

Through an unfortunate accident, he had been bested once. Flukes, unpleasant as they were, could occur. Now he was prepared. This aberration would be rectified and swept into the ashbin of memory. 


End file.
